QUESTION: May a judge serve as a director of a bank where the board of the bank consists of 10 directors, where one of the directors is the representative of a holding company which owns all of the stock of the bank?

ANSWER: The Committee is of the opinion that for a judge to serve as a bank director under such circumstances would be contrary to the purposes of
Canons 5C(1) and 5C(2), as well as Canon 2. A judge should regulate his extra-judicial activities to minimize the risk of conflict with his judicial duties and he should avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all his activities. The fact that a holding company is the sole owner of the bank should not permit a judge to do indirectly that which he could not do directly.

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*Canon 5C(1) was amended effective December 19, 1989.