Opinion 02-70

June 7, 2002

Digest:         A judge may appear in a video which will be distributed by a not-for-profit organization free of charge to attendees at a conference which is intended to educate patients and doctors about a particular disease; and the judge may be identified in the video as “Honorable [name].”

Rules:           22 NYCRR 100.4(A).

Opinion:

         A judge asks whether it is ethically permissible to appear in a video being distributed by a not-for-profit organization, which is intended to educate patients and doctors about a specific disease. (The judge suffers from the disease.) The video will be distributed free of charge to attendees at a conference. The judge also asks whether it is ethically permissible to be identified in the tape as “Honorable [name].”

         A judge may participate in extra-judicial activities that do not cast reasonable doubt on the judge’s capacity to act impartially as a judge; detract from the dignity of judicial office; interfere with the proper performance of judicial duties and are not incompatible with judicial office. 22 NYCRR 100.4(A). Given the educational nature of the video and the fact that it will be distributed free of charge by a not-for-profit organization to a targeted audience, the Committee sees no reason why the judge could not appear in the video. Nor does the Committee see any ethical impropriety in the judge being identified in the video as “Honorable [name].”

         We note that there is no fund-raising aspect to the event.