Could a new circuit judge remain on a legal services board and a juvenile justice committee?

Plain-English summary

After appointment to the circuit court, a judge asked whether service on a Legal Services board and a Juvenile Justice Committee could continue.

The Commission applied former Canon 4C(3)(a) and found both organizations regularly engaged in litigation. Even if their matters did not ordinarily come before this judge, their regular adversary proceedings in other courts barred the memberships.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1994, before West Virginia adopted its 2015 Code of Judicial Conduct, effective December 1, 2015. Subsequent rule changes or later opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context and verify the current Code before relying on the letter's conclusion.

Common questions

Q: Could the judge remain on either body?

A: No. The Commission concluded that Canon 4C(3)(a) barred both memberships.

Q: Did the litigation have to be before the requester?

A: No. The Commission noted that regular adversary proceedings in other courts also mattered.

Background and rules framework

Former Canon 4C(3)(a) restricted judicial service with an organization likely to appear before the judge or regularly involved in adversary proceedings in any court.

Citations and references

West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct (former):

• Canon 4C(3)(a), civic service and litigation.

See also

• WV JIC Advisory Opinion 1995-26: Zoning appeals board

Source

• Landing page: West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission advisory opinions
• Original PDF: JIC Advisory Opinion 1994-14, redacted
• Code adoption date: West Virginia JIC 2015 Annual Report

Original opinion text

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

JUDICIAL INVESTIGATION COMMISSION
212 Dickinson Street
Post Office Box 1629
Charleston, West Virginia 25326-1629
(304) 558-0169 FAX (304) 558-0831

October 7, 1994

Re: JIC Advisory Opinion 1994-14

Dear
Your recent letter to Counsel for the Judicial Investigation Commission in which seek an advisory opinion was reviewed by the Commission at its recent meeting. In that correspondence you asked whether you may continue to serve on the Legal Services Board of Directors and the Juvenile Justice Committee since your appointment to the Circuit Court.
Canon 4C(3) (a) of the Code of Judicial Conduct states:
CANON 4
A JUDGE SHALL SO CONDUCT THE JUDGE'S EXTRA- JUDICIAL ACTIVITIES AS TO MINIMIZE THE RISK OF CONFLICT WITH JUDICIAL OBLIGATIONS
c. Governmental, Civic, and Charitable Activities.
(3) Civic and Charitable Activities. A judge may participate in civic and charitable activities that do not reflect adversely upon the judge's impartiality or interfere with the performance of the judge's judicial duties. A judge may serve as an officer, director, trustee, or non-legal adviser of an educational, religious, cha~itable, fraternal, or civic organization not conducted for the economic or political advantage of its members subject to the following limitations:

• 2 - October 7, 1994

(a) A judge should not serve if it is likely that the organization will be engaged in proceedings that would ordinarily come before the judge or will be regularly engaged in adversary proceedings in any court.
The or~anizations which fOU describe in fOUr letter, Legal Services and the Juvenile Justice Committee, are regularly engaged in litigation and would, therefore, be regularly engaged in adversary proceedings in court. While the agencies may not be engaged in proceedings which would ordinarily come before you, they both would be regularly engaged in adversarial proceedings in other courts. The language set forth in Canon 4C(3) (a) would, therefore, preclude your membershi~ on the Legal Services Board of Directors and the Juve~ile Justice Committee.· It is hoped that this advisory opinion fully addresses the questions which you raised in your correspondence. If. there is any further question regarding this matter, do not he.sitate to contact the onunissi n.

t~, ,,. ed L. ox, II, Chairman
FLF,II/bl