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January 5, 1998
The Honorable Lance L. Hanshaw
Circuit/Chancery Court, Division I
17th Judicial District-West
Lonoke County Courthouse
301 North Center Suite 303
Lonoke, Arkansas 72086
Re: Advisory Opinion # 97-05
Dear Judge Hanshaw:
Your letter of November 19, 1997 indicates for a number of years you
have been one of three partners in a general partnership, which owns an office building.
One of the other two partners manages the building, obtains tenants and collects the rent.
You have no direct dealings with the tenants. Some of the tenants in the building are
attorneys.
This Committee dealt with a similar situation in Advisory Opinion #
97-03, in which we concluded that reasonable individuals might question the impartiality
of a judge who has an on-going relationship as a landlord with one of the attorneys of
record in a proceeding. Arkansas Code of Judicial Conduct 3 (E).
In our opinion, it is irrelevant whether a judge is managing the
building or simply a partner. Likewise, it is irrelevant whether the partnership is
yielding net income on an annual basis, and whether an attorney is the only tenant or
merely one of many tenants.
Accordingly, in any proceeding in which an attorney who is a tenant
of a building owned, in whole or in part, by you is an attorney of record, you should
recuse. In the alternative, you may disclose on the record the basis for your
disqualification. Pursuant to Canon 3F, you Amay ask the parties and their lawyers to
consider, out of the presence of the judge, whether to waive disqualification@. An
agreement of all that you should not be disqualified should be incorporated into the
record.
Sincerely,
Howard W. Brill
For the Committee
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