A Presumptively Close Relationship

An opinion of the Florida Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee

Opinion Number: 2020-08
Date of Issue: March 26, 2020

1. Whether disqualification is required when the judge’s brother-in-law is a partner in a large law firm whose members may appear before the judge, in view of the decision in Sands Pointe Condominium Association, Inc. v. Aelion?

ANSWER: Yes.

2. If disqualification is required, is remittal of disqualification pursuant to Canon 3F permissible?

ANSWER: Yes, so long as the procedures set forth in Canon 3F are followed.

3. If disqualification is not required, is disclosure required?

ANSWER: This question is rendered moot by the answer to question 1.

Analysis

The committee finds that the inquiry before it is controlled by Canon 3E and that Fla. JEAC Op. 17-20 addresses the exact question posed. In that opinion, a judge had inquired whether a judge must be disqualified if an attorney from a law firm in which the judge’s brother-in-law is a partner appears as counsel in a case before the judge. The answer was an unequivocal yes. That same opinion, to which the inquiring judge is referred, cites numerous prior decisions of this committee involving inquiries concerning the employment of a judge’s relative by a law firm. While the need for disqualification becomes less clear as the relative’s kinship to the judge becomes more distant or the relative’s position in the firm is less directly related to the practice of law, one party having a lawyer from a firm in which someone as close as the judge’s brother-in-law is a partner could indeed cause other parties to reasonably question the judge’s impartiality. As stated in Fla. JEAC Op. 17-20, “We believe that a partner in a law firm has more than a de minimus interest in any case in which an attorney from that firm appears, whether it be a matter of reputation, client satisfaction, or economics.” The committee finds nothing in the Sands Pointe case that would cause it to recede from its holding in Fla. JEAC Op. 17-20. It is the opinion of the committee that the inquiring judge should disqualify himself or herself from the case.

(Mike Frisch)