A new opinion of the South Carolina Advisory Committee on Standards of Judicial Conduct

A magistrate judge has been asked to serve on the Advisory Council of the USC Law School’s Pro Bono Program and to join the Women and Gender Studies Partnership Council at USC.

The Pro Bono Program’s purpose is to engage the alumni in the advancement of the program; support the goals of the program by providing their professional expertise and diverse perspectives; and to create ideas for local projects for the Program. Service on the Advisory Council is for a two-year term and members are not compensated. Council members’ names may be publicized; however, there is no fund-raising component of service on the Council.

The Women and Gender Studies Partnership Council is made up of members from the community who advise the Women’s and Gender Studies program on community issues and opportunities related to the well-being of women and other under-represented groups. The Partnership Council meets five or six times a year to receive program updates. The Council also seeks to form partnerships to launch or continue projects and initiatives that support education and outreach to the university campus and the midlands community related to the intersection of gender, race, class, and sexual orientation. While the Partnership Council does engage in some fund-raising to support certain projects, it has had previous members who have been restricted from fund-raising and the Partnership Council excuses those members (and will excuse the judge) from fund-raising. 

Good to go

One of the limitations preventing a judge from serving is in Canon 4C(a), which states that a judge should not serve on such as an officer, director or advisor of an organization that will frequently be engaged in proceedings before the judge. In addition, Canon 4C(b) limits the judge’s fundraising participation and membership solicitation.

Here, there is no reason to expect that either organization will regularly appear in proceedings before the magistrate. In addition, neither organization will require the judge to fundraise or solicit memberships. Thus, there is no prohibition in the Code of Judicial Conduct preventing the judge from serving on either of the councils.