Opinion 25-99

 

September 10, 2025

 

Digest:   Although a judge ordinarily may write a monthly educational column for a local lifestyle magazine, the judge may not do so if the column is sponsored by a business.

 

Rules:    22 NYCRR 100.2; 100.2(A), (C); 100.3(B)(8); 100.4(A)(1)-(3); 100.4(B); 100.4(D)(3); Opinions 24-70; 22-170; 20-85; 14-37; 10-153; 02-13; 01-22; 90-123/90-133; 88-133.

 

Opinion:

 

          The inquiring full-time judge has been invited to write a monthly legal column for a local lifestyle magazine which highlights wellness, arts and entertainment activities in the area.  It does not run legal notices.[1]  The publication is supported by advertising and is provided for free to area residents.  The proposed column would educate the public about court structure, jury service, trial process, paths to the judiciary, resources for unrepresented litigants, e-filing, and other legal issues.  The judge would write it without compensation, but a private business owned by the judge’s spouse has offered to sponsor the column to ensure its publication.  The judge asks a series of questions exploring whether it is ethically permissible to write and publish such a column and whether the judge’s spouse’s business may provide certain direct or indirect financial assistance to allow the judge’s column to be published.

 

          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]).  A judge must not “lend the prestige of judicial office to advance the private interests of the judge or others” (22 NYCRR 100.2[C]), and a full-time judge may not be an “active participant of any business entity” unless an exception applies (22 NYCRR 100.4[D][3]).  However, a judge generally may “speak, write, lecture, teach and participate in extra-judicial activities” (22 NYCRR 100.4[B]), provided the activities are compatible with judicial office and do not cast doubt on the judge’s impartiality, detract from the dignity of judicial office, or interfere with proper performance of judicial duties (see 22 NYCRR 100.4[A][1]–[3]).  Among other applicable restrictions, a judge must not make any public comment about a pending or impending proceeding in any court within the United States or its territories (see 22 NYCRR 100.3[B][8]).

 

1. Authoring a Column in a Local Magazine

 

          A judge may author a regular legal column in a periodic publication subject to generally applicable limitations on judicial speech and conduct, including the public comment rule (see e.g. Opinions 14-37; 10-153; 01-22; 90-123/90-133; 88-133).  For example, we have said a judge “may describe generally applicable rules and procedures, and may comment generally on the administration of justice, [but] must not ‘editorialize’ or otherwise comment on any pending or impending cases within the United States or its territories” (Opinion 22-170).  The writing also “cannot take place at a time that would interfere with the judge’s regular judicial duties” (Opinion 90-123/90-133).

 

2. Sponsorship of the Judge’s Magazine Column

 

          We have recognized that “our long-standing precedent allow[s] judges to write and publish both fiction and non-fiction through commercial publishers” (Opinion 20-85).  The novel question here is the effect of the proposed commercial sponsorship of the judge’s column.

 

          In the context of a judge’s proposed speaking engagement, we have said that “[p]articular caution is needed where the sponsor is a commercial entity, as the permissibility of participation is highly fact-specific” (Opinion 24-70).  Thus, in Opinion 24-70, we said a full-time judge may not accept an invitation from the judge’s spouse to discuss legal issues arising in the judge’s court at a “lunch and learn” meeting sponsored by the spouse’s for-profit employer (id.).  We explained that, under the circumstances presented, this sponsored speaking “would impermissibly lend the prestige of judicial office to the judge’s spouse and to the spouse’s employer” and “could also create an appearance that this full-time judge is an advisor or active participant in the employer’s business” (id.).

 

          Here, the inquiring judge asks if the magazine column may be sponsored by his/her spouse’s for-profit business.  In our view, this sponsorship would likewise impermissibly lend judicial prestige to the judge’s spouse and to the spouse’s business and could create an appearance that the judge is an advisor or active participant in the spouse’s business (see id.).

 

          Accordingly, we conclude that although the inquiring judge may write a regular educational column for a local lifestyle magazine, the judge may not do so if the magazine column is specifically sponsored by a business or commercial sponsor.

 

3. Advertising Purchases

 

          Finally, if the judge’s spouse’s business “cannot provide direct financial assistance to sponsor [the judge’s] potential column,” the judge asks whether the business may “instead advertise in the magazine.”

 

          Focusing solely on the judicial ethics issues here, it is our view that the judge may not write the proposed column for this magazine if the judge’s spouse’s business is the sole advertiser in the magazine, as this could readily create the impression that the spouse’s business is sponsoring the judge’s column (cf. id.).

 

[1] Thus we need not revisit our prior advice that a judge “should not write a column for a newspaper in which the judge publishes legal notices” due to “[t]he danger of a public perception of a quid pro quo arrangement” (Opinion 02-13).