Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024
(A) Extra-judicial activities
in general. A judge shall conduct all of the judge's extra- judicial activities
so that they do not:
(1) cast
reasonable doubt on the judge's capacity to act impartially as a
judge;
(2) detract
from the dignity of judicial office; or
(3) interfere with the proper
performance of judicial duties and are not incompatible with judicial
office.
(B) Avocational activities. A judge may
speak, write, lecture, teach and participate in extra- judicial activities
subject to the requirements of this Part.
(C) Governmental, civic, or charitable
activities.
(1) A full-time
judge shall not appear at a public hearing before an executive or legislative
body or official except on matters concerning the law, the legal system or the
administration of justice or except when acting pro se in a matter involving
the judge or the judge's interests.
(2)
(a) A full-time judge shall not accept
appointment to a governmental committee or commission or other governmental
position that is concerned with issues of fact or policy in matters other than
the improvement of the law, the legal system or the administration of justice.
A judge may, however, represent a country, state or locality on ceremonial
occasions or in connection with historical, educational or cultural
activities.
(b) A
judge shall not accept appointment or employment as a peace officer or police
officer as those terms are defined in section
1.20 of
the Criminal Procedure Law.
(3) A judge may be a member or serve as
an officer, director, trustee or non-legal advisor of an organization or
governmental agency devoted to the improvement of the law, the legal system or
the administration of justice or of an educational, religious, charitable,
cultural, fraternal or civic organization not conducted for profit, subject to
the following limitations and the other requirements of this Part.
(a) A judge shall not serve as
an officer, director, trustee or non-legal advisor if it is likely that the
organization:
will be engaged in proceedings that
ordinarily would come before the judge; or if the judge is a full-time judge,
will be engaged regularly in adversary proceedings in any court.
(b) A judge as an
officer, director, trustee or non-legal advisor, or a member or otherwise:
may assist such an organization in
planning fund-raising and may participate in the management and investment of
the organization's funds, but shall not personally participate in the
solicitation of funds or other fund-raising activities;
may not be a speaker or the guest of honor
at an organization's fund-raising events, but the judge may attend such events.
Nothing in this subparagraph shall prohibit a judge from being a speaker or
guest of honor at a court employee organization, bar association or law school
function or from accepting at another organization's fund-raising event an
unadvertised award ancillary to such event;
may make recommendations to public and
private fund-granting organizations on projects and programs concerning the
law, the legal system or the administration of justice; and shall not use or
permit the use of the prestige of judicial office for fund-raising or
membership solicitation, but may be listed as an officer, director or trustee
of such an organization. Use of an organization's regular letterhead for
fund-raising or membership solicitation does not violate this provision,
provided the letterhead lists only the judge's name and office or other
position in the organization, and, if comparable designations are listed for
other persons, the judge's judicial designation.
(D) Financial
activities.
(1) A judge shall
not engage in financial and business dealings that:
(a) may reasonably be perceived to
exploit the judge's judicial position;
(b) involve the judge with any
business, organization or activity that ordinarily will come before the judge;
or
(c) involve the
judge in frequent transactions or continuing business relationships with those
lawyers or other persons likely to come before the court on which the judge
serves.
(2) A judge, subject to the
requirements of this Part, may hold and manage investments of the judge and
members of the judge's family, including real estate.
(3) A full-time judge shall
not serve as an officer, director, manager, general partner, advisor, employee
or other active participant of any business entity, except that:
(a) the foregoing restriction
shall not be applicable to a judge who assumed judicial office prior to July 1,
1965, and maintained such position or activity continuously since that date;
and
(b) a judge,
subject to the requirements of this Part, may manage and participate in a
business entity engaged solely in investment of the financial resources of the
judge or members of the judge's family; and
(c) any person who may be appointed to
fill a full-time judicial vacancy on an interim or temporary basis pending an
election to fill such vacancy may apply to the Chief Administrator of the
Courts for exemption from this paragraph during the period of such interim or
temporary appointment.
(4) A judge shall manage the judge's
investments and other financial interests to minimize the number of cases in
which the judge is disqualified. As soon as the judge can do so without serious
financial detriment, the judge shall divest himself or herself of investments
and other financial interests that might require frequent
disqualification.
(5) A judge shall not accept, and shall
urge members of the judge's family residing in the judge's household not to
accept, a gift, bequest, favor or loan from anyone except:
(a) a gift incident to a
public testimonial, books, tapes and other resource materials supplied by
publishers on a complimentary basis for official use, or an invitation to the
judge and the judge's spouse or guest to attend a bar-related function or an
activity devoted to the improvement of the law, the legal system or the
administration of justice;
(b) a gift, award or benefit incident
to the business, profession or other separate activity of a spouse or other
family member of a judge residing in the judge's household, including gifts,
awards and benefits for the use of both the spouse or other family member and
the judge (as spouse or family member), provided the gift, award or benefit
could not reasonably be perceived as intended to influence the judge in the
performance of judicial duties;
(c) ordinary social
hospitality;
(d) a
gift from a relative or friend, for a special occasion such as a wedding,
anniversary or birthday, if the gift is fairly commensurate with the occasion
and the relationship;
(e) a gift, bequest, favor or loan from
a relative or close personal friend whose appearance or interest in a case
would in any event require disqualification under section
100.3(E) of this
Part;
(f) a loan
from a lending institution in its regular course of business on the same terms
generally available to persons who are not judges;
(g) a scholarship or
fellowship awarded on the same terms and based on the same criteria applied to
other applicants; or
(h) any other gift, bequest, favor or
loan, only if: the donor is not a party or other person who has come or is
likely to come or whose interests have come or are likely to come before the
judge.
(E) Fiduciary activities.
(1) A full-time judge shall
not serve as executor, administrator or other personal representative, trustee,
guardian, attorney in fact or other fiduciary, designated by an instrument
executed after January 1, 1974, except for the estate, trust or person of a
member of the judge's family, or, with the approval of the Chief Administrator
of the Courts, a person not a member of the judge's family with whom the judge
has maintained a longstanding personal relationship of trust and confidence,
and then only if such services will not interfere with the proper performance
of judicial duties.
(2) The same restrictions on financial
activities that apply to a judge personally also apply to the judge while
acting in a fiduciary capacity.
(3) Any person who may be appointed to
fill a full-time judicial vacancy on an interim or temporary basis pending an
election to fill such vacancy may apply to the Chief Administrator of the
Courts for exemption from paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subdivision during the
period of such interim or temporary appointment.
(F) Service as arbitrator or
mediator. A full-time judge shall not act as an arbitrator or mediator or
otherwise perform judicial functions in a private capacity unless expressly
authorized by law.
(G) Practice of law. A full-time judge
shall not practice law. Notwithstanding this prohibition, a judge may act pro
se and may, without compensation, give legal advice to a member of the judge's
family.
(H)
Compensation, reimbursement and reporting.
(1) Compensation and reimbursement. A
full-time judge may receive compensation and reimbursement of expenses for the
extra- judicial activities permitted by this Part, if the source of such
payments does not give the appearance of influencing the judge's performance of
judicial duties or otherwise give the appearance of impropriety, subject to the
following restrictions:
(a)
Compensation shall not exceed a reasonable amount nor shall it exceed what a
person who is not a judge would receive for the same activity.
(b) Expense reimbursement
shall be limited to the actual cost of travel, food and lodging reasonably
incurred by the judge and, where appropriate to the occasion, by the judge's
spouse or guest. Any payment in excess of such an amount is
compensation.
(c) No
full-time judge shall solicit or receive compensation for extra-judicial
activities performed for or on behalf of:
(1) New York State, its political
subdivisions or any office or agency thereof;
(2) school, college or university that
is financially supported primarily by New York State or any of its political
subdivisions, or any officially recognized body of students thereof, except
that a judge may receive the ordinary compensation for a lecture or for
teaching a regular course of study at any college or university if the teaching
does not conflict with the proper performance of judicial duties; or
(3) any private legal aid
bureau or society designated to represent indigents in accordance with article
18-B of the County Law.
(I) Financial disclosure.
Disclosure of a judge's income, debts, investments or other assets is required
only to the extent provided in this section and in section
100.3(F) of this
Part, or as required by Part 40 of the Rules of the Chief Judge (22 NYCRR Part
40), or as otherwise required by law.
