Illinois: Family Law Judge Conflict of Interest?
Is this a conflict of interest? The judge hearing my case was a lawyer in 2005. In 2005, the judge represented my fiancee’s ex-husband in their divorce case (the judge knows my fiancee’s financial and personal details). My fiancee was subpeonaed to court last month to answer questions in my case. When she appeared, the attorney representing her asked if the judge remembered her ex-husband’s case. The judge said "yes". Is this a conflict of interest when the judge knows details about my fiancee’s financials? By the way, the judge, as a lawyer lost that divorce case against my fiancee.
6 Responses
Dragon
16 May 2010
longestjohn300
16 May 2010
this is thoughy if there is a conflict, but that shouldnt stop the lawyer asking the judge to recuse herself.
vic91106
16 May 2010
It is not a conflict of interest as the judge does not stand to benefit, nor does she have a standing professional relationship with your fiancee.
One of the attorneys may ask her to recuse herself, but it is likely that she will have the option to not do so and face no censure.
laughter_every_d
16 May 2010
no. If the judge had previously represented the witness, that might be a conflict, because there is a presumption that the lawyer gains confidential information about a client. The fact that he opposed the witness, however, means nothing, unless it so clouds the judge’s view of the credibility of the witness that he cannot be fair. The judge is obliged to decide the case based solely on the evidence presented in your case, and not on info that the judge might have picked up elsewhere. There mere fact that there might be such extra info is not grounds to disqualify the judge. If it were so, then judges could never read a newspaper or venture out in public.
eric
20 Jun 2010
is it considered a conflict of interest if the law firm representing a person in a divorce is the employer of the persons mother or father?
Jason Chance
20 Jul 2010
Dragon is delusional. No lawyer, especiallly in family court, is going to want to go through with disqualifying a judge and making them lose money. Family court lawyers wont do their job either way. best to go without one unless you want to be homeless or die of a stroke from the stress.
The simplest way to handle this would be to have your attorney file an affidavit of prejudice. I believe this is an available if the proceedings have not been going on too long.
If that isn’t an option, your best bet is to ask the judge to recuse himself.
If the judge refuses, you and your attorney should look at the case critically and determine if his knowledge of your fiancee’s financial information really does have any kind of serious or material impact on your case. If it does, you should file a writ. But make sure the grounds are good, as I said, otherwise it will simply be denied.
Chances are the judge really isn’t going to care either way – his job is to be impartial, and he has probably heard hundreds if not thousands of cases since 2005.