Opinion  Opinion 2025-2

Date:	04/22/2025
Organization:	Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Ethical Opinions for Clerks of the Courts

Clerk Magistrate would like to serve in leadership roles on a variety of boards.

Dear ______,

This is in response to your letter to the Advisory Committee on Ethical Opinions for Clerks of the Courts (“the Committee”) dated January 31, 2025. In that letter you inquired whether, as Clerk Magistrate, you may serve in leadership roles on a variety of boards. Specifically, you shared that you are a member of the [SJC Board]; Board member and DEI Taskforce Chair of the _________ YMCA, Board member and current Vice President of the Children’s Museum at ­­­­­________, Board member of the ________ County Bar Association, President of the ___________ Bar Association, and Member of the Board of Trustees and current Vice President of ____________  Charter School.

You are also very involved in your college alumnae community, currently serving as an officer and member of clubs with the goal of connecting alums to each other, the college and students. You represented that all alumnae regardless of identity can join any alum club in furtherance of the inclusive model of the umbrella of the College Alumnae Association. You have also been asked to join the board of the ___________ Boys & Girls Club. You do not receive any financial compensation for any of your board memberships; your service is exclusively volunteer and unpaid. You also do not serve in any capacity as a legal advisor for any of these organizations.

You have reviewed Canon 5(B) Code of Professional Responsibility for Clerks of the Courts as it concerns your board memberships and your inquiry relates to whether your memberships are in conflict with the Clerk’s Canon of Ethics. Canon 5(B) addresses a Clerk’s participation in civic and charitable activities. Such participation is generally permitted provided that the activity does not reflect adversely on the Clerk Magistrate’s impartiality or interfere with the performance of his or her official duties. The Canon allows a Clerk Magistrate to serve as an officer, director, trustee, or non-legal advisor of an educational, religious, charitable, fraternal, or civic organization not conducted for the economic or political advantage of its members, subject to the following limitations:

1. A Clerk Magistrate shall not participate if there is a substantial likelihood that the organization, or a significant number of members of the organization, will be engaged in proceedings that would ordinarily come before the Clerk Magistrate or the court in which the Clerk Magistrate serves.
2. A Clerk Magistrate may solicit funds for any educational, religious, charitable, fraternal, or civic organization, but shall not use or permit the use of the prestige of the office for that purpose or solicit his or her staff for that purpose . . . .

In prior opinions, the committee has generally found civic and charitable activity by a Clerk to be permissible if the charitable organization and its members do not come before the court where the Clerk serves, the Clerk does not use the prestige of the office to advance the organization, and the Clerk does not use court time or resources for the civic or charitable work. See Opinions 2015-4, 1994-12.

The Committee also reviewed Canon 4 as it relates to your situation. Canon 4 states: “A Clerk Magistrate shall perform the duties of Clerk Magistrate impartially and should act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judicial branch of government.” Canon 4(B), entitled “Personal Affairs,” states, in relevant part: “[a] Clerk Magistrate shall not engage in outside activities which would cast doubt on his or her capacity to decide impartially any issue that may come before the Clerk Magistrate in any official capacity.”

Recognizing that the Supreme Judicial Court appoints you to the [SJC Board], it is the view of the committee that, provided you comply with the requirements of the Canons noted above, membership in that organization is permissible. Similarly, the following positions are permissible provided you comply with the requirements of the Canons noted above:

• Board member and DEI Taskforce Chair of _______ YMCA;
• Board member and current Vice President of the Children’s Museum of _______;
• Board member of the _______ County Bar Association;
• Member of the Board of Trustees and current Vice President of _________  Charter School;
• _________ Boy’s and Girl’s Club;
• Member of alumnae clubs; and
• President of the _______ Bar Association.

While your participation and memberships in the individual organizations noted above are permitted in the opinion of the committee, the number of organizations and the positions that you hold in these organizations appear to require significant time commitments. The Committee cautions you that Canon 3 of the Code requires that a Clerk Magistrate devote the entire time during normal court hours to the duties of his or her office.

In short, standing alone, none of the memberships and leadership roles described in your inquiry are barred, as long as you continue to serve as an unpaid volunteer, do not serve in any capacity as a legal advisor for any of these organizations, and comply with the requirements of the Canons noted above. You must ensure that your participation in these numerous activities does not interfere with your ability to perform the duties of your office during court hours and that you do not use court resources. We remind you that our opinion relates only to the Code of Professional Responsibility for Clerk of the Courts. Trial Court Personnel Policies and rules may bear on your situation. 

Sincerely,
Christine P. Burak, Esq.
Secretary, Advisory Committee on Ethical Opinions for Clerks of the Courts