The Advisory 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 the Honorable Margaret Walsh, a justice of the supreme court in Albany County, and the Honorable Lillian Wan, an associate justice of the appellate division, second department.

Digest: A trial court judge may hire a law student for a judicial internship for academic credit while the student is simultaneously employed part-time in a non-legal paid position at an investment bank which has cases before the judge.  Assuming the judge can be fair and impartial, the judge may still preside in cases involving the bank, but must disclose to the parties the student’s relationship with the bank and insulate the student from those cases.