Opinion ID: 1770175
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: arbitration activities

Text: At the time Judge Brown acted as a mediator or arbitrator, his conduct was not an improper act in itself. If he had acted as a mediator only once, or only in isolated instances, probably no complaint would have been filed against him, because acting as mediator or arbitrator was not then a violation of any canon of ethics. Since that time, the Code of Judicial Conduct of the American Bar Association has been amended to provide that A judge should not act as an arbitrator or mediator. [11] This court now has before it the question of whether Texas should adopt a similar canon. [12] The commentary under the American Bar canon recognizes that valuable services have been rendered in the past by judges appointed to undertake extra-judicial assignments. It states that, The appropriateness of these assignments of judges must be reassessed, however, in the light of the demands on judicial manpower created by today's crowded dockets. . . . [13] Before the effective date of the revision of the American Bar Association's canons, Judge Brown had voluntarily ceased to act as an arbitrator. He has not done so since 1970, so the real question is whether Judge Brown, in acting as an arbitrator or mediator, so neglected the work of his court, or was absent from it for so great a time, as to be guilty of willful or persistent conduct which was clearly inconsistent with the performance of his duties or which cast discredit upon the judiciary. The fact that Judge Brown was paid for his work as a mediator is relevant but not controlling. The problem of flagrant and extended neglect of judicial duties would be the same if the judge absented himself, or did not properly attend to his duties, for any number of reasons, or for no reason at all. The evidence, therefore, which is set out below is relevant as to whether the judge properly attended to his duties or so absented himself as to warrant removal or censure. Judge Brown testified, without dispute, that the major portion of the arbitration work consisted of the reading of briefs and written records. He testified that he did a good deal of this at home after hours, at night, and on weekends, and that many of the full days for which he received pay as an arbiter were spent in such work. Judge Brown also was out of his district and out of the State for a number of days. A dispute apparently exists as to how many. The Master found that Judge Brown was absent from his court for a total of forty-seven days during 1969 and 1970. This is a substantial amount of time, and the Judicial Qualifications Commission was understandably and commendably concerned. The problem, however, is whether Judge Brown absented himself, or neglected his court and his judicial duties to the extent that his conduct amounts to willful or persistent conduct which is clearly inconsistent with the performance of his said duties. . .. It is a good rule that a judge should give his full working time to his court and to such other judicial duties of the State of Texas to which he is assigned and which he accepts. From a preponderance of the evidence and under all the circumstances in this record, however, the conduct of Judge Brown in acting as an arbiter or mediator was not such as to merit his removal or public censure; and he did not neglect the work of his court, in acting as arbiter, to such a degree as to require disciplinary action.