Opinion  Opinion 2025-3

Date:	06/09/2025
Organization:	Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Ethical Opinions for Clerks of the Courts

Assistant Clerk Magistrate to serve on town Zoning Board.

Dear ________,

This letter is in response to your request dated May 5, 2025, for an opinion from the committee.  You ask whether, as an Assistant Clerk Magistrate for the _____ District Court, you may serve as a volunteer member of the zoning board in the town of ________ where you reside.  The Court where you are employed and the town where you reside are not in the same county.  Accordingly, the Court where you work does not have jurisdiction over zoning board appeals or zoning matters with which you may be involved.

In consideration of your request, the Committee reviewed Clerks Ethics Opinions 97-5 and 2003-8, among others, as well as the Code of Professional Responsibility for Clerks of the Courts Canons 4 and 5.

Canon 5 of the Code of Professional Responsibility for Clerks of the Courts regulates outside activities "to minimize the risk of conflict with official duties".  Canon 5(E) states in pertinent part:

"[A] Clerk-Magistrate shall not accept appointment within the geographical jurisdiction of the court in which he or she serves to a governmental committee, commission, or other governmental position if there is a substantial likelihood that matters involving that committee, commission or other governmental position will come before the [Clerk]…or the court in which the Clerk-Magistrate serves".

Further, Canon 4 (A), states "A Clerk-Magistrate shall not convey the impression that any person is in a special position to influence the Clerk-Magistrate, and the Clerk-Magistrate should discourage others from suggesting that they are in a position to exert such influence."

The Committee has determined that holding a position on a Zoning Board in a town outside the jurisdiction of the Court where you work as an Assistant Clerk Magistrate does not violate the Code of Professional Responsibility. (See Opinion 97-5).  The determinative factor in the analysis is whether the board, or any of its potential activities, falls within the jurisdiction of the Court where you work.  As expressed in the Canons noted above, the central concern with participation on governmental boards is the potential for conflicts of interest, and the appearance that anyone may be in a special position to influence the decisions of the Clerk.  Where the zoning board is in a town outside of your Court’s jurisdiction you will not be faced with these potential conflicts. (Cf. Opinion 2003-8, prohibiting membership on a Zoning Board of Appeals in the same jurisdiction as the Court in which the Assistant Clerk worked because Zoning Board Appeals would be filed there, and further noting that membership on a board within the jurisdiction of a Clerk’s Court could create an appearance of impartiality with the Building Inspector, Code Enforcement Officer, other town employees).

Accordingly, your service on the zoning board in _______, while employed as an Assistant Clerk Magistrate in ______, does not violate the Code of Professional Responsibility for Clerks.

As a final note, and due to the proximity between your Court and your town of residence, the Committee cautions you to consider Canon 4(E).  Should any persons routinely having business in front of the zoning board on which you sit appear before you in your role as Assistant Clerk, even for unrelated reasons, you should consider whether disqualification is proper.

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