OPINION 88-77

June 13, 1988

Topic:          Judges’ serving on the board of directors of the Prisoners’ Legal Services

                   of New York.

Digest:         Judges may not serve on the board of directors of the Prisoners’ Legal Services.

Rules:          22 NYCRR 100.5(b)(1)

Opinion: 

         The Committee has been asked whether judges may serve on the board of directors of the Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York. The Prisoners’ Legal Services is regularly engaged in legal proceedings, although it rarely appears in New York City Civil Court or Family Court.

         Section 100.5(b)(1) of t he Rules of the Chief Administrator, which concerns judicial participation in civic and charitable organizations, states that:

A judge shall not serve if it is likely that the organization will be engaged in proceedings that would ordinarily come before him or her or will be regularly engaged in adversary proceedings in any court. As the Prisoners’ Legal Services is regularly engaged in adversary hearings in court, judges should not serve on its board of directors.

         This Opinion is advisory only and does not bind either the Office of Court Administration or the Commission on Judicial Conduct.