Ezel / Ethics Opinions / JUDICIAL-AL

May a part-time municipal judge represent criminal defendants in other Alabama courts?

Short answer The Commission said the Canons did not prohibit representation in district, circuit, or appellate courts, even when municipal police testify, but excluded matters that had come or were likely to come before the judge’s own court.
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JUDICIAL-AL
Issued
November 2, 1983
Source
View Original PDF

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This page answers the general question as of 1983. Ask about yours and see what the current rules of professional conduct in your state say for your facts, with citations.

Disclaimer: Advisory only. Not binding precedent.
About this page: The plain-English summary, reader guidance, and Q&A below were written by Ezel based on the official ethics opinion. The original opinion (linked on this page as a PDF) is the authoritative source for any reliance.
View original ethics opinion (PDF)

Plain-English summary

The question concerned a part-time municipal judge representing criminal defendants in district, circuit, and appellate courts. The Commission said the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics did not prohibit that work, even when police from the judge’s municipality testified.

It limited that conclusion: the judge should not act as an attorney in a matter that had come before, or was likely to come before, the municipal court, or in a closely related matter.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1983, after the Alabama Supreme Court’s 1975 adoption of the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics. Subsequent amendments or later opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context and verify the current Canons and linked opinion before relying on its conclusions.

Common questions

Q: Does testimony by municipal police itself bar the representation?

A: No. The Commission expressly said its answer remained the same if municipal police officers testified.

Q: Which matters fall outside the permission given?

A: The judge should not represent a matter, or a closely related matter, that had come or was likely to come before the judge’s own court.

Background and rules framework

The Commission applied the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics to a part-time municipal judge’s outside criminal-defense practice without citing a numbered Canon.

See also

Source

Original opinion text

Reproduced from the official source for research purposes. The linked source is authoritative.

83-195
Judicial Inquiry Commission
800 SOUTH MCDONOUGH STREET
SUITE 201
MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 36104
November 2, 1983
The Judicial Inquiry Commission has considered your request for an opinion concerning whether a municipal judge may represent clients in criminal cases before the district courts, circuit courts and appellate courts. It is the Commission’s opinion that the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics do not prohibit a part-time municipal judge from representing criminal defendants in the district or circuit courts of any county or in the appellate courts. This is true even if members of the police force of the municipality, where he is judge, testify as witnesses in the case. However, the municipal judge should not act as an attorney in any case involving a matter when it or a closely related matter has come before or is likely to come before his court. Yours very truly, JUDICIAL INQUIRY COMMISSION

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