Can lawyers raise funds to support judicial candidates through an official bar association endorsement committee despite the ban on judicial testimonials?
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This page answers the general question as of 1972. Ezel answers yours: whether it's allowed on your facts, under the current rules of professional conduct in your state, with citations.
Plain-English summary
Opinion E-72-1 addressed whether the sanctioned activities of the Lawyers Judicial Endorsement Executive Committee were excepted from advisory opinion 1971-A (published in the April 1971 Wisconsin Bar Bulletin). That earlier opinion held it unethical for an attorney, alone or with other individual attorneys or lay persons, to organize a testimonial dinner for a sitting judge or a candidate for judicial office, and unethical for an attorney to purchase tickets for, attend, or contribute to such a testimonial, unless it was organized by the bar association.
The committee understood the Lawyers Judicial Endorsement Executive Committee to be an official arm of both the Milwaukee Bar Association and the Milwaukee Junior Bar Association, organized to promulgate the principles of Ethical Consideration 8-6. The inquiry concerned the committee's money-raising functions, with proceeds used to support judicial candidates endorsed through the joint endorsement procedure, and the committee's by-laws provided that, so far as possible, fundraising should begin substantially before any endorsements were determined.
The committee concluded that the functions of this endorsement committee are not affected by Advisory Opinions 18 or 19. It added the standard caution that official opinions of the Ethics Committee are advisory only and subject to review and change by the Supreme Court.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1972, before Wisconsin's July 1, 2007 adoption of the revised Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys (the state's Ethics 2000 update), and it applies the former Code's Ethical Consideration 8-6 and the committee's earlier testimonial opinions. The current counterpart most relevant to lawyers' involvement with judicial candidates is SCR 20:8.2 / Model Rule 8.2 (judicial and legal officials; candidates), with judicial-campaign conduct now governed by the Wisconsin Code of Judicial Conduct. Subsequent rule amendments or later opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance. Verify against current rules before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or requirement mentioned here.
Common questions
Q: Can lawyers organize fundraising for judicial candidates?
A: Under this opinion, yes, through an official bar association arm. The committee found the endorsement committee's fundraising functions were not affected by the ban on judicial testimonials, because it was an official arm of the bar associations.
Q: What was prohibited by the underlying testimonial rule?
A: Advisory opinion 1971-A made it unethical for an attorney to organize, buy tickets for, attend, or contribute to a testimonial dinner for a sitting judge or judicial candidate, unless the bar association organized it.
Q: Did the timing of fundraising matter?
A: The committee noted the by-laws provided that fundraising should, so far as possible, begin substantially before any endorsements were determined.
Background and rules framework
The opinion applied the former Code's Ethical Consideration 8-6 and the committee's prior judicial-testimonial opinions to an official bar association judicial endorsement committee. The current counterpart is SCR 20:8.2 / Model Rule 8.2 (judicial and legal officials; candidates), with judicial-campaign matters governed by the Wisconsin Code of Judicial Conduct.
Citations and references
Rules of Professional Conduct:
- Model Rule 8.2 / SCR 20:8.2 (judicial and legal officials; candidates); former Code Ethical Consideration 8-6
Other opinions cited:
- Wisconsin Advisory Opinion 1971-A: ban on attorney-organized judicial testimonials except those organized by the bar association
See also
- WI Ethics Op. E-73-4: Ethical Guidelines for Attorney Judicial Candidates
- WI Ethics Op. E-88-3: Judicial Candidates and Political Party Membership
Source
- Landing page: https://www.wisbar.org/formembers/ethics/pages/formal-opinions.aspx
- Original PDF: https://www.wisbar.org/formembers/ethics/Ethics%20Opinions/E-72-1.pdf
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