Which alcohol education and speaking activities could the Maryland judge undertake in this opinion?
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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.
Plain-English summary
A judge with recognized expertise in alcoholism asked about paid lectures at treatment facilities, educational seminars, community-college courses, fundraising dinners, and commercially sold video lectures.
The Committee barred lectures at facilities whose patients might appear before the judge as probationers. It allowed seminar speaking and community-college teaching for an appropriate fee if judicial duties were not hindered. Rule 9 barred serving as a keynote speaker at fundraising dinners.
The Committee also allowed paid sales of recorded lectures, but said geographically related treatment clinics should not be solicited to buy the tapes. The answer thus varied with the audience, the fundraising role, and the judge’s connection to likely probationers.
Currency note
This opinion discusses the Maryland judicial ethics provisions in force at the time it was written. Its analysis is historical; verify the current Maryland Code of Judicial Conduct and the linked opinion before relying on a cited provision.
Common questions
Q: Could the judge lecture at nearby alcohol treatment clinics?
A: No. The Committee said that connection could affect, or appear to affect, objectivity concerning patients who might later appear before the judge.
Q: Could the judge teach or speak at educational seminars for a fee?
A: Yes. The opinion approved seminars and community-college courses if they did not interfere with judicial duties.
Q: Could the judge give a keynote talk at a fundraising dinner?
A: No. The Committee treated that fundraising role as personal solicitation barred by Ethics Rule 9.
Q: Could recorded lectures be sold?
A: Yes, but the Committee said related local treatment clinics should not be solicited to buy the recordings.
Background and rules framework
The opinion applies Maryland’s then-cited Canons XXIII and XXX and Ethics Rule 9 to outside teaching, compensation and fundraising. It also discusses Maryland JEC opinion requests about treatment agencies and educational works.
Citations and references
- Maryland Canons of Judicial Ethics, Canons XXIII and XXX; Ethics Rule 9.
- Maryland JEC Opinion Requests 1971-05, 1976-08, 1979-06, 1979-07 and 1980-07.
See also
Source
- Landing page: Maryland Judicial Ethics Committee opinion index
- Original PDF: Opinion 1983-03
Original opinion text
Reproduced from the official source for research purposes. The linked source is authoritative.
Maryland Judicial Ethics Committee
Opinion Request Number: 1983-03
Date of Issue: June 27, 1983
O Published Opinion G Unpublished Opinion G Unpublished Letter of Advice
Judge Not to Lecture at Nearby Private Rehabilitation Facilities; Not to Speak at Fundraisers;
May Otherwise Engage in Educational Activities and Tape Lectures for Sale
A judge has asked six related questions as to the propriety of lecturing, speaking or teaching for a fee in various settings on the subject of alcoholism, a field in which the judge’s expertise is recognized locally, nationally and internationally.
The judge asks if he may lecture for a fee at one or more of the five private alcohol rehabilitation facilities in the State of Maryland, first to lecture in a facility on a rotation basis so that each patient will hear the talk at least once, and secondly, to lecture to the patients and their families on a non-rotation basis.
Canon XXIII of the Canons of Judicial Ethics provides:
“A judge should not accept inconsistent duties; or incur obligations, pecuniary or otherwise, which will in any way interfere or appear to interfere with his devotion to the expeditious and proper administration of his official functions.” [Opinion Request Nos. 1971-05 and 1979-07] of this Committee prohibit a judge from having any official connection with, or actively participating in, an agency which appears before the Court or whose clientele appears before the Court. Participation as a lecturer in any alcohol rehabilitation clinics which are closely related geographically to the courts in which the judge sits might prevent him from acting with complete objectivity, or appear to do so, in regard to patients who might later appear before him as probation violators.
Accordingly, the Committee concludes that the judge should decline to lecture at such alcohol rehabilitation facilities in the county to which he is assigned and in those other counties in Maryland where there is a reasonable likelihood that he will find patients who are under his probation.
Next, the judge inquires whether he may, for remuneration, from time to time take part in educational seminars in the State of Maryland as a speaker or panel member.
Canon XXX provides that a judge may lecture or instruct in law or write upon the subject and accept compensation therefore [sic], if such a course does not interfere with the due performance of his judicial duties.
While lecturing on alcoholism does not constitute instruction in law, it pursues a goal common to the court and to the organizations which treat alcoholism, to wit, elimination of the problems which alcoholism presents to society. Courts must deal with abuse of alcohol through sentencing and the clinician through treatment.
This Committee, in describing a book concerning the prevention and treatment of alcoholism, and passing upon the propriety of a judge writing an introduction to it, stated that “while this book is not a legal publication in the strict sense of that definition, it has a similar purpose.” See [Opinion Request No. 1980-07].
In recognition of that communion of purpose, the Committee is of the opinion that it would Maryland Judicial Ethics Committee
Opinion Request Number: 1983-03
Date of Issue: June 27, 1983
O Published Opinion G Unpublished Opinion G Unpublished Letter of Advice Page 2 of 2
be proper for the judge to participate in educational seminars, either as a speaker or panel member and accept an appropriate fee. The Committee does not find in these seminar lectures the dangers inherent in lecturing in alcoholism rehabilitation clinics.
The judge further inquires if he may teach a basic, broad outline course, “Introduction to Alcoholism” and possibly another course in a community college during another semester for the usual instruction fee. Under the facts presented in this case, the Committee finds no critical, ethical difference between lecturing at educational seminars and teaching a course at a community college. Therefore, adopting the reasoning set forth in two preceding paragraphs, the Committee is of the opinion that it would be proper for the judge to teach said courses. However, the Committee cautions the judge that he must so limit his labors as to not interfere with the expeditious handling of his official functions as a judge. ( Canon XXIII).
Further, the judge asks if it would be ethical for him to be a keynote speaker at some of the annual fund raising dinners at the National Council on Alcoholism and the American Council on Alcoholism, non-profit organizations devoted to fighting alcoholism. The judge notes that the affairs are highly advertised and promoted and that the identity of the speaker contributes greatly to the success or failure of the effort.
Rule 9 of the Canons and Rules of Judicial Ethics provides, among other things, that a judge may not personally solicit funds for any purpose, charitable or otherwise. To participate in a national fund raising affair as a keynote speaker would clearly violate that prohibition. The Committee, therefore, concludes it would be improper for the judge to accept that task for the reasons set forth in [Opinion Request No. 1979-06].
Finally, the judge asks if he may do a series of films and/or video tapes of his lectures, as has been suggested by an independent production company, under an arrangement whereby he would be paid a fee for each lecture and a residual on the sales. He states that the films and tapes would be sold to anyone desiring a particular lecture for use in education or in the treatment area.
As previously noted, Canon XXX permits a judge to write commercially on the law; and this includes writing on the subject of alcoholism and alcohol treatment. See [Opinion Request Nos. 1976-08 and 1980-07]. Since the judge would be permitted to reduce his lectures to writing and have them sold for remuneration by a publisher, we believe it is equally permissible for the judge to have his lectures video-taped and sold for remuneration by an independent production company. That the distribution is in taped rather than written form is not material.
We concluded earlier in this opinion that the judge would not lecture at alcohol rehabilitation clinics which are closely related geographically to the courts in which the judge sits. For the same reasons, those clinics should not be solicited for the purchase of the tapes of any of the judge’s lectures. With this one proviso, we are of the opinion that it is permissible for the tapes of the judge’s lectures to be sold to the same extent that a judge’s writings could be sold.
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