May a Vermont assistant judge serve temporarily as a part-time town administrator?

Plain-English summary

An assistant judge asked whether they could accept a town selectboard's appointment as a part-time town administrator for three to four months while remaining an assistant judge. The Committee answered yes.

The opinion explains that Rule 3.4 normally bars a judge from a governmental appointment unrelated to the law or administration of justice. It also treats the town administrator role as equivalent to a business manager position addressed by Rule 3.11(B). The Code's Application section exempts continuing part-time judges, including assistant judges, from both provisions. The Committee said assistant judges in other positions remain subject to all other applicable Code provisions, including during their outside duties.

In practice

Under the facts addressed, the assistant judge could serve as interim town administrator because the two identified prohibitions do not apply to continuing part-time judges. The opinion preserves the application of the Code's other provisions.

Common questions

Q: May an assistant judge accept an interim town administrator appointment?

A: Yes. The Committee applied the continuing part-time judge exemption to the proposed three-to-four-month role.

Q: Why would Rule 3.4 normally matter to this appointment?

A: The Committee said a town administrator appointment does not concern the law, legal system, or administration of justice, so Rule 3.4 would otherwise prohibit it for a judge.

Q: Does the exemption remove all Code obligations during outside work?

A: No. The opinion says assistant judges serving in other positions must comply with all other applicable Code provisions, including while performing outside duties.

Background and rules framework

The opinion says the 2019 Vermont Code of Judicial Conduct's Definitions section includes assistant judges among continuing part-time judges. Its Application section supplies the exemptions from Rule 3.4 on governmental appointments and Rule 3.11(B) on service in a business entity.

Citations and references

Vermont Code of Judicial Conduct: Application section; Rules 3.4 and 3.11(B).

Other authorities cited: Administrative Order No. 35.

See also

• VT Judicial Ethics Opinion 27: Auxiliary Police Service
• VT Judicial Ethics Opinion 32: Prosecutor Role

Source

• Landing page: Vermont Judicial Ethics Committee
• Original PDF: Opinion 25
• Archived official PDF: reviewable 2025 capture

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative.

STATE OF VERMONT

JUDICIAL ETHICS COMMITTEE

Opinion No.: 25
Date: July 11, 2023
To: [name redacted in posted version pursuant to A.O. 35, ¶ 6]

The Committee has researched and reviewed the matter you presented to it. The following is the opinion of the Committee and a response to your inquiry pursuant to Administrative Order No. 35.

Questions Presented

May a Vermont assistant judge be appointed to serve as a part-time municipal officer while continuing to serve as assistant judge?

Short Answer

Yes, assistant judges are not required to comply with the prohibitions on appointment to governmental positions or employment in a business entity.

Relevant Canons of Judicial Conduct

The Application section of the 2019 Vermont Code of Judicial Conduct (“the Code”) “establishes when the various Rules apply to a judge or judicial candidate.” According to the Definitions section of the Code, the term “continuing part-time judge” includes assistant judges.

The Application section provides:

(A) JUDGE. All judges shall comply with this Code except as provided below.

(B) CONTINUING PART-TIME JUDGE. A continuing part-time judge: (1) is not required to comply . . . (b) at any time with Rules 3.4 (Appointments to Governmental Positions) . . . and 3.11(B) (service as officer, director, or in other capacity in business entity) . . ..

Rule 3.4 of the Code entitled Appointments to Governmental Positions provides that “[a] judge shall not accept appointment to a governmental committee, board, commission, or other governmental position, unless it is one that concerns the law, the legal system, or the administration of justice.”

Rule 3.11(B) of the Code provides that

A judge shall not serve as an officer, director, manager, general partner, advisor, or employee of any business entity except that a judge may manage or participate in: (1) a business closely held by the judge or members of the judge’s family; or (2) a business entity primarily engaged in investment of the financial resources of the judge or members of the judge’s family.

Analysis

The requester has asked if an assistant judge may be appointed by a town selectboard to serve as a part-time administrator of the town’s government for an interim period of three to four months.

Rule 3.4 of the Code would prohibit a judge from being appointed as a town administrator because the appointment does not concern the law, legal system, or administration of justice. The position of town administrator is also equivalent to serving as a manager of a private business entity, and Rule 3.11(B) of the Code would prohibit a judge from serving in such a role as well. The Code, however, recognizes that assistant judges have a part-time judicial function and therefore are explicitly exempt from the portions of the Code that prohibit other employment or service.

It is important to note that assistant judges who serve in other positions must comply with all other applicable provisions of the Code, even while performing their extrajudicial duties.

Members of the Judicial Ethics Committee

Eileen M. Blackwood, Esq., Chair
Honorable Thomas A. Zonay
Honorable James R. Dean Mahoney
Honorable Brian Valentine
Ian Carleton, Esq.