The Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics responds to written inquiries from New York state's approximately 3,600 judges and justices, as well as hundreds of judicial hearing officers, support magistrates, court attorney-referees, and judicial candidates (both judges and non-judges seeking election to judicial office). The committee interprets the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct (22 NYCRR Part 100) and, to the extent applicable, the Code of Judicial Conduct. The committee consists of 27 current and retired judges, and is co-chaired by the Honorable Margaret Walsh, a justice of the supreme court, and the Honorable Lillian Wan, a court of claims judge and acting supreme court justice.

Digest: A judge in a large urban court may write a letter of reference for a sheriff's deputy supervisor seeking to be promoted, based on the judge's personal knowledge of the deputy, where the deputy supervises others who provide court security and is thus unlikely to appear before the judge.

Rules: 22 NYCRR 100.2; 100.2(A); 100.2(C); Opinions 16-38; 10-07; 01-37.