Opinion 22-139

Short-Form Opinion

October 27, 2022

Question:          You are aware that your third-degree relative (a niece, nephew, aunt, or uncle) has consulted with and/or retained an attorney in a matrimonial matter. You ask whether you may preside in unrelated cases where your relative’s attorney represents other clients, and whether disclosure is necessary.

Discussion:        A judge must disqualify him/herself in any proceeding where the judge’s impartiality “might reasonably be questioned” (22 NYCRR 100.3[E][1]). We note that your third-degree relative has no interest or involvement in the matter before you, whether as a litigant, attorney, witness, or otherwise.

Relationships within the second degree generally denote a more intimate and significant family connection than more distant ones.¹ We have advised that “the mere fact that an attorney appearing before the judge has an attorney-client relationship with a judge’s more distant relatives (beyond the second degree) is insufficient, by itself, to trigger disqualification or disclosure obligations,” provided the judge can be fair and impartial (Opinion 16-122). Here, too, as long as there are no other facts that would make you question your impartiality, you are not disqualified from a case merely because you are aware that an attorney before you is representing your third-degree relative in an unrelated matter. You are not ethically required to disclose the attorney-client relationship during the representation or afterward.

Enclosed:          Opinion 16-122.

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¹ Relatives within the second degree by blood or marriage include the parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings of you or your spouse, as well as the spouse of such persons.