Opinion 25-34
March 27, 2025
Digest: A judge may host summer internships for vulnerable youths and inform bar associations of the existence of the program.
Rules: 22 NYCRR 100.2; 100.2(A)-(C); 100.4(A)(1)-(3); Opinions 25-24; 23-75; 22-191; 16-138; 07-19.
Opinion:
The inquiring judge received a request from the director of a local government’s youth employment program for help finding summer internship placements for disadvantaged youth. The prospective interns are all “youth who have experienced workplace barriers,” who would like to gain experience with “administrative work in law offices” and will do so “free of charge” to the employer. The judge asks if he/she may “host interns” and also share information about the internship program with bar associations. We note that although nothing in the inquiry suggests that the program or its summer internships have any partisan political affiliation, purpose, or sponsorship, the judge’s apparent concern is that the program’s director is also a district leader in the judge’s county.
A judge must always avoid even the appearance of impropriety (see 22 NYCRR 100.2), and act in a manner that promotes public confidence in the judiciary’s integrity and impartiality (see 22 NYCRR 100.2[A]). Thus, for example, a judge must not lend the prestige of judicial office to advance any private interests (see 22 NYCRR 100.2[C]) or allow family, social, political, or other relationships to influence the judge’s judicial conduct or judgment (see 22 NYCRR 100.2[B]). A judge’s extra-judicial activities must be compatible with judicial office and must not cast reasonable doubt on the judge’s capacity to act impartially as a judge; detract from the dignity of judicial office; or interfere with the proper performance of judicial duties (see 22 NYCRR 100.4[A][1]-[3]).
“We have recognized that the community benefits from having judges take an active part in community affairs whenever possible” (Opinion 22-191). Moreover, “[t]he decision whether to engage a student intern is within the discretion of the judge” (Opinion 25-24). In our view, the judge’s proposed participation appears primarily educational in nature and is unlikely to cast doubt on the judge’s capacity to act impartially as a judge or otherwise interfere with the proper performance of judicial duties. Nor is the judge’s participation in an apparently non-partisan governmentally sponsored internship program for disadvantaged youth rendered impermissible merely because the coordinator of the program also serves as a political party’s county district leader (cf. Opinion 23-75 [advising charitable contribution not rendered impermissible when made in memory of district leader’s deceased relative]).
As for the judge’s second question, we have previously advised that a judge may circulate a job notice for a personal appointee law clerk through a bar association and various bar committees (see Opinion 16-138). Somewhat analogously, we see no prohibition on publicizing the internship program in this manner, as this educational opportunity for disadvantaged youth does not implicate prohibited private interests within the meaning of 22 NYCRR 100.2(C).[1]
We therefore conclude that participating in this internship program and sharing information with bar associations is ethically permissible. As always, the judge’s participation is subject to generally applicable limitations on judicial speech and conduct.
[1] We note that the mentorship program for at-risk youth described in Opinion 07-19 involved a fundamentally different dynamic. There, the inquiring Family Court judge wished to promote a particular mentorship program for at-risk youth, even though the judge’s court was “empowered to refer parties to that program” (id.). Moreover, as it was “a new program,” such promotion might involve soliciting volunteer mentors (id.). Neither of these factors appears to be present here.