The New Jersey Supreme Court has publicly reprimanded an Essex County judge for violating ethics rules by becoming involved in a friend's child custody case.

The court, in an order dated Sept. 20 and released Monday, issued the reprimand to Essex County Family Part Judge Carolyn Wright.

Wright initially denied violating ethics rules, but the order noted that Wright accepted the findings of the court's Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct and waived her right to a hearing before the court.

Neither Wright nor her attorney, Joseph LaSala of McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter in Morristown, returned calls seeking comment.

Wright had said in her August 2017 answer to the ACJC complaint that she was attempting to assist a family friend whose grandchild needed medical attention, and that she was attempting to resolve an issue of insurance coverage.

According to the documents, the incident occurred on Aug. 5, 2016, when Wright accompanied an acquaintance named Benjamin Hayes to the Family Part intake unit to help him obtain paperwork to file for immediate custody of his grandchild.

During the course of the day, Wright and Hayes met with a number of officials in the intake unit, who attempted to help Hayes fill out the necessary forms, the May 2017 ACJC complaint said.

At one point, Wright went to the judge who had been assigned to emergent duty that day, Judge Nora Grimbergen, and asked Grimbergen if she had time to hear a matter, but Grimbergen said she was “swamped” and did not have time to hear matters that were not properly before her, according to the complaint.

Wright told the other judge her nephew had a matter involving medical insurance, but Grimbergen instructed her to file an order to show cause, and Wright left, according to the complaint.

In her answer, Wright said she was assisting Hayes just as she would any other litigant. And, Wright said, she repeatedly apologized to judges and court personnel for any inconvenience she might have been causing.

Intake officials questioned whether the matter should be docketed in Essex County, because of Wright's relationship with Hayes, and the matter eventually was transferred to Hudson County, the complaint said.

The complaint charged Wright with failing to “conform to the high standards of conduct expected of judges” and impugning “the integrity of the judiciary,” in violation of Canon 1, Rule 1.1, and Canon 2, Rule 2.1, of the Code of Judicial Conduct.

Wright, the ACJC charged, also “created the risk that her judicial office would be an influential factor in the processing of [Hayes'] application” to gain custody of his grandson. The complaint said that was a violation of Canon 2, Rule 2.3(a).