NYS Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics - Reimbursement of legal fees: Opinion 23-124

Daily Record Staff//October 15, 2024//

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New York State Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics

Reimbursement of legal fees

Political party

Background: Four judicial candidates were selected as nominees at a political party’s convention. Thereafter, a lawsuit challenging their nominations named both the political party and the nominees as respondents. The party retained one attorney and the inquiring candidates jointly retained another attorney. The party and the candidates prevailed. The party is seeking the candidates’ campaign committees to reimburse it for a portion of the legal fees it incurred in defending the nominations. The inquiring attorneys ask if it is ethically permissible for each of them to reimburse the political party for the reasonable legal fees.

Opinion: The Committee concluded that a judicial candidate may reimburse a political party their proportionate share of the reasonable attorneys’ fees actually incurred by the party in litigation related to their ballot status in a campaign.