May a judge serve as a bank director and receive normal board compensation?

Plain-English summary

A judge asked whether service on a bank's board of directors and payment for that service were permitted.

The Commission allowed bank-board service where it was advisory and excluded day-to-day operational decisions. It also allowed remuneration comparable to what other directors normally received, to avoid an appearance of impropriety.

The opinion said Canon 2C barred lending judicial prestige to the bank. It recounted an earlier holding that bank cases disqualified the judge under Canon 3C(l)(c), subject to the remittal procedure in Canon 3D.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1997, 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: Could the judge serve on the bank board?

A: Yes, if the role was advisory and did not include daily operational decisions.

Q: Could the judge be paid?

A: Yes. The Commission allowed compensation commensurate with ordinary director pay.

Q: What happened when the bank was a party?

A: The opinion cited an earlier ruling requiring recusal, with possible remittal under Canon 3D.

Background and rules framework

The opinion applied Alabama Canon 2C’s judicial-prestige restriction and cited the earlier bank-board ruling under Canons 3C(l)(c) and 3D. The source prints the parenthesized character in 3C(l)(c) as a lowercase letter.

Citations and references

Alabama Canons 2C, 3C(l)(c), and 3D, as printed; Advisory Opinion 94-474.

See also

• AL Judicial Ethics Op. 99-723: Judge on Bank Board

• AL Judicial Ethics Op. 02-798: Bank Director and Business Solicitation

Source

• Landing page: Alabama JIC advisory opinions

• Original PDF: Advisory Opinion 97-673

• Canon history: Alabama JIC, Canons of Judicial Ethics

Original opinion text

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

97-673
Judicial Inquiry Commission
800 SOUTH MCDONOUGH STREET
SUITE 201
MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 36104
October 3, 1997
The Judicial Inquiry Commission has considered your request for an opinion concerning whether, under the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics, a judge may serve on the board of directors of a bank and, if so, whether the judge may receive remuneration for such service. It is the opinion of the Commission that a judge may serve on the board of directors of a bank and may receive the normal remuneration for such service. However, he should be ever mindful of the provisions of Canon 2C that a judge “should not lend the prestige of his office to advance the private interests of others; nor should he convey nor permit others to convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence him.” The Commission has considered the first issue in the past and has opined that a judge may serve as a director of a bank where such service is purely advisory and does not include decision making in the day to day operation of the bank. (See Advisory Opinion 94-474.) The Commission further noted in that opinion that, under Canon 3C(l)(c), the judge would be disqualified from hearing any proceeding involving the bank but that such disqualification could be remitted by following the procedures set out in Canon 3D. We note further that Canon 2C prohibits the lending of the prestige of the judicial office to advance the private interests of others. Others in this instance include the bank where the judge serves as director. As to your second question, the judge who serves as a bank director would not be prohibited from receiving the remuneration allowed other directors. His remuneration should, of course, be commensurate with remuneration normally paid for such service to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Yours very truly, JUDICIAL INQUIRY COMMISSION