I am a lawyer and also a district justice. Also, as a lawyer, I have a small law firm in the county where I am a district justice. What can I do in my firm as an attorney?
Judges who have other occupations have to be very careful. There can be potentially some serious discipline. For instance, in the case of In re Willis Berry, 979 A2d 991 (Pa. Court Judicial Discipline, 2009), Judge Willis Berry was suspended for four months from his position as an elected judge in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. He was suspended since he had used his judicial office and judicial secretary to assist him in his real estate business where he bought old buildings and rehabilitated them and then rented out apartments.
