Digest: A judge may attend and be listed on the invitation to a dinner which is being held to honor a retiring judge and which is neither a fund-raising event nor a political gathering.
 

Rule: 22 NYCRR 100.5(A)(1)(iii)(g); 100.4(C)(3)(b)(i).
 

Opinion:

            A judge inquires whether the judge's name may be listed, along with that of several colleagues, on a letter of invitation to be sent in connection with dinner to be held in honor of a retiring justice. The proceeds raised by the sale of the tickets to the dinner will be used to cover the costs of the dinner itself.

            The event described by the inquiring judge is neither a political gathering (22 NYCRR 100.5[A][1][iii][g]) nor a fund-raising event (22 NYCRR 100.4[C][3][b][i]). There is no ethical prohibition against the judge's attendance at this event, or against the use of the judge's name on the invitations to it.