Opinion 07-32

         This responds to your inquiry (07-32) asking whether you may sign a factual affidavit in a lawsuit you handled as an attorney before you assumed the bench. The current attorney in the case seeks to have it restored to the trial calendar and he/she has asked you for an affidavit stating the case was not abandoned.

         In Opinion 96-128, this Committee stated that a judge may provide factual affidavits in pending court proceedings relating to matters the judge handled as counsel before assuming the bench, as doing so does not constitute the practice of law or violate any other provision of the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct. Opinion 96-128 (Vol. XV). Accordingly, there is no ethics rule which prohibits you from providing such a factual affidavit in this instance.

         We enclose a copy of Opinion 96-128 for your convenience.