Opinion 93-03

January 28, 1993

Digest:         Members of a law firm are not disqualified from practicing before a part-time judge who is now associated with one of their former associates.

Rules:          22 NYCRR 100.5(f).

Opinion:

         A part-time judge who is engaged in the practice of law is considering taking into the judge’s law office a new associate who currently is an associate of another law firm. The part-time judge inquires as to whether the members of the prospective associate’s current law firm would be disqualified from practicing before the part-time judge should the association materialize.

         Members of the associate’s current law firm would not be disqualified from practicing before the part-time judge. They are not and would not have been partners or associates of the judge, being merely former associates of the judge’s new associate.