082820 SCJEO, JUD 11-2020

• Case Date: August 28, 2020
• Court: South Carolina

JUD 11-2020 Opinion No. 11-2020 South Carolina Judicial Ethics Opinion Advisory Committee on Standards of Judicial Conduct August 28, 2020           LETITIA H. VERDIN, CHAIR          RE: Propriety of a newly-appointed Municipal Judge, who was formerly a prosecutor for the City, presiding over cases involving City prosecutors.          FACTS          A City prosecutor has been appointed Municipal Judge for the same City in which the judge previously served as prosecutor. The judge inquires as to which cases would require recusal or disqualification, such as cases involving other City prosecutors.          CONCLUSION          A Municipal Judge who formerly served as a City prosecutor may preside over cases involving other City prosecutors, provided that the judge did not serve as attorney in the matter in controversy.          OPINION          The Committee has addressed a very similar issue in in Opinion 13-1995. In that case, a newly-elected administrative law judge inquired into the propriety of presiding over cases involving the Department of Revenue where the judge had been previously employed by that State agency. We determined that an administrative judge need not automatically recuse himself from a proceeding in which a former governmental agency employer appears unless the judge has served as a lawyer in the matter in controversy.          In Opinion 13-1995, we cited Canon 3C(1)^[1] of the Code of Judicial Conduct, which stated that "[a] judge should disqualify himself in a proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including but not limited to instances where: ...(b) he served as a lawyer in the matter in controversy, or a lawyer with whom he previously practiced law, served during such association as a lawyer concerning the matter. ..." The Commentary to the 1995 rule stated that:

A lawyer in a governmental agency does not necessarily have an association with other lawyers employed by that agency within the meaning of this subsection; a judge formerly employed by a governmental agency; however; [sic] should disqualify himself in a proceeding if his

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