Ethics Opinion 357
9.10.1974
NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION Committee on Professional EthicsOpinion #357- 09/10/1974 (31-74)
conflict of interests, criminal practice by, judges, judicial, law clerk to judge, part-time public official or employee, practice by law clerk or confidential assistant
Topic: Practice of law by parttime assistant to judge
Digest: Lawyer who is parttime assistant to county court judge, may practice in Federal Court in same county
Code: Canon 2; EC 2-25
QUESTION
May an attorney, who is a parttime confidential law assistant to a county judge, participate in the appointed defense counsel program of the Federal District Court which sits in the county where the county judge sits?
OPINION
A lawyer who is a parttime confidential law assistant to a county judge may properly practice law, unless barred by statute or court rule, in a Federal Court. Participation in an appointed defense counsel program is laudatory and should be encouraged. Canon 2, EC 2-25. Even though the lawyer has such a relationship with a state court judge, it is not improper for the lawyer to participate in such a program in a Federal Court, but cf. N.Y. State 361 (1974).