I practice in a county where there are part-time masters and conciliators in family court. Sometimes, while having cases before the master or conciliator, I am also litigating against that person in unrelated family court cases. Is that permissible?
Clearly, the question raises some interesting concerns. It seems almost unseemly to appear before a master/conciliator one day and the next day to be an adversary to that same person in a hard-fought, unrelated family court matter. But that happens all the time when there are part-time positions. For instance, district judges can practice part-time in civil matters and, perhaps in other counties, in criminal matters. Whether that should result in the disqualification of the judge in the case pending before the judge would have to be raised and a request made to the judge.
