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 retired justice of the supreme court in Albany County, and the Honorable Lillian Wan, an associate justice of the appellate division, second department.

Digest: A village justice who formerly served as a special prosecutor for Vehicle and Traffic Law matters: (1) May preside in matters where the village justice was not involved in any manner during his/her prior employment as special prosecutor; (2) May undertake the strictly ministerial duty of depositing and transmitting fine monies in matters where the defendant motorist accepted the special prosecutor's plea offer and the court approved it, but the payment either has not been made or has not been entered in the court records; and (3) Is otherwise disqualified from all cases in which the judge made a plea offer to the defendant motorist during his/her prior employment as special prosecutor, including (a) where the plea offer was rejected by the motorist or the court and (b) where there may be a need to reduce, modify or vacate the conditions of a plea agreement which was previously approved by the judge's predecessor.