Opinion 02-127

December 5, 2002

Digest:         A village and town justice who is a lawyer may not appear before a part-time city court judge in the same county, who is a lawyer, merely because the latter has assumed the duties of the full-time city court judge who is ill.

Rule:            22 NYCRR 100.6(B)(2); Opinions 98-122 (Vol. XVII);90-10 (Vol. V).

Opinion:

         A part-time village and town justice, who is also an attorney, inquires whether it is permissible to litigate a case before another part-time judge from the same county who is permitted to practice law and who has assumed the duties of the full-time city court judge due to illness.

         Section 100.6 (B)(2) of the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct states that “a part-time judge shall not practice law in the court on which the judge serves, or in any other court in the county in which his or her court is located, before a judge who is permitted to practice law, and shall not act as a lawyer in a proceeding in which the judge has served as a judge or in any other proceeding related thereto”.

See, Opinions 98-122 (Vol. XVII); 90-10 (Vol. V).

         Accordingly, the inquiring judge may not litigate a case before the part-time city court judge from the same county who has assumed the duties of the full-time city court judge who is absent due to illness. That is, the status of the part-time judge has not changed by virtue of the duties now being assumed. Thus, the prohibition remains in effect.