The Committee on Judicial Ethics responds to written inquiries from New York state’s approximately 3,600 judges and justices, as well as hundreds of judicial hearing officers, support magistrates, court attorney-referees, and judicial candidates (both judges and non-judges seeking election to judicial office). The committee interprets the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct (22 NYCRR Part 100) and, to the extent applicable, the Code of Judicial Conduct. The committee consists of 27 current and retired judges, and is co-chaired by former associate justice George D. Marlow of the Appellate Division and Margaret Walsh, a Family Court judge and acting justice of the state Supreme Court.
Digest: A County Court judge whose full-time court attorney is now a town justice within the same county may continue to preside over cases originating in or appealed from the Town Court, provided his/her court attorney is insulated from those cases and the insulation is disclosed on the record to all parties and their counsel. Because this disclosure is mandated in lieu of disqualification, if a party is appearing without counsel, the judge must disqualify him/herself. 22 NYCRR 50.3; 100.2; 100.2(A); 100.2(B); 100.3(E)(1); 10-98; 08-172; 07-194; 99-133; 95-111; 92-115; 88-67.
