Opinion 96-47

June 6, 1996

         This is in response to your letter of April 3, 1996, in which you ask the opinion of the Advisory Committee concerning the authority of an administrative law judge to preside at a hearing where a party representative is not an attorney.

         The Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics is not empowered to answer the question posed. Section 100.6 (C) of the Rules of the Chief Administrator Governing Judicial Conduct states:

( C)Administrative law judges. The provisions of this Part are not applicable to administrative law judges unless adopted by the rules of the employing agency.

         Your submission does not indicate that the agency in question has adopted the Rules. Accordingly, a response to the question posed is not authorized, even assuming that it raises a question of ethics and not a question of law.