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: (1) A judge need not disqualify from matters involving an attorney who is no more than an acquaintance, merely because the attorney's spouse is the judge's close personal friend.  (2) For two years after attending the attorney's wedding as a member of the wedding party at the request of the judge's close personal friend, the judge must make full disclosure of his/her relationship with the attorney, including the judge's attendance and participation in the attorney's wedding.