Opinion 91-69

June 13, 1991

Citation Note: The rules were significantly revised and renumbered in 1996. For example, the outcome of this opinion has been modified by adoption of the "regular letterhead" rule. Section 100.4(C)(3)(b)(iv) now provides as follows:
"(b) A judge as an officer, director, trustee or non-legal advisor, or a member or otherwise: ... (iv) shall not use or permit the use of the prestige of judicial office for fund-raising or membership solicitation, but may be listed as an officer, director or trustee of such an organization. Use of an organization's regular letterhead for fund-raising or membership solicitation does not violate this provision, provided the letterhead lists only the judge's name and office or other position in the organization, and, if comparable designations are listed for other persons, the judge's judicial designation."

Digest:         A full-time judge, who serves as a trustee of a charitable organization, may not have his or her name listed in any funding application by the organization unless a grant application requests the names of all trustees, but the judge's name may be listed on non-fundraising stationery.

Rules:          22 NYCRR §100.5(b).

Opinion:

         A full-time judge, who is a trustee of a charitable organization, inquires whether the judge's judicial title may appear on the list of trustees in the charitable organization's non-fundraising stationery, and whether the judge's name may be listed as a trustee in funding applications.

         There is no ethical provision prohibiting any judge from being included in a list of trustees of a charitable organization on that entity's letterhead, as long as such stationery is never used for fundraising purposes. The judge's name should not be listed on any fundraising application, unless a grant application requests the names of all trustees. The organization obviously must be truthful and include the judge's name, but without the judge's title, unless his or her occupation is requested.

         On non-fundraising stationery, the judge's name and office or prefix Honorable may be listed on the stationery.