Judges cannot serve on MSBA ethics hotline, Maryland Judicial Ethics Committee finds

A judge cannot serve on the Maryland State Bar Association Committee on Ethics monthly volunteer hotline, the Maryland Judicial Ethics Committee has ruled. In a published ethics opinion issued late last month, the Maryland Judicial Ethics Committee found that the MSBA ethics committee’s judicial members cannot sit on the monthly hotline and field calls from Maryland attorneys on ethical issues because an attorney would likely rely more heavily on a judge’s interpretation.