(A) A judge may serve as an officer, director, trustee, or nonlegal advisor of an organization or governmental agency devoted to the improvement of the law, the legal system, or the administration of justice or of an educational, religious, charitable, fraternal, or civic organization, not conducted for profit, subject to the following limitations and the other requirements of this Rule 2.

(1) A judge may assist such an organization in planning fund-raising and may participate in the management and investment of the organization’s funds but shall not personally participate in the solicitation of funds or other fund raising activities, except that a judge may solicit funds from other judges over whom the judge does not exercise supervisory or appellate authority.

(2) A judge shall not personally participate in membership solicitation if the solicitation might reasonably be perceived as coercive or, except as permitted in Rule 2-3.7(A)(1), if the membership solicitation is essentially a fund-raising mechanism.

(3) A judge may make recommendations to public and private fund-granting organizations on projects and program concerning the law, the legal system or the administration of justice.

(4) A judge shall not serve as an officer, director, trustee or nonlegal advisor if it is likely that the organization:

(a) will be engaged in proceedings that would ordinarily come before the judge, or

(b) will be engaged frequently in adversary proceedings in the court of which the judge is a member or in any court subject to the appellate jurisdiction of the court of which the judge is a member.

(5) A judge as an officer, director, trustee or nonlegal advisor or as a member or otherwise shall not use or permit the use of the prestige of judicial office for fund-raising or membership solicitation.

(B) A judge may encourage lawyers to provide pro bono publico legal services.

[1] The changing nature of some organizations and of their relationship to the law makes it necessary for a judge regularly to reexamine the activities of each organization with which the judge is affiliated to determine if it is proper for the judge to continue the affiliation. For example, charitable hospitals are now more frequently in court than in the past. Similarly, the boards of some legal aid organizations now make policy decisions that may have political significance or imply commitment to causes that may come before the courts for adjudication.

[2] Mere attendance at an event, whether or not the event serves a fund-raising purpose, does not constitute a violation of paragraph (A)(4). It is also generally permissible for a judge to serve as an usher or a food server or preparer, or to perform similar functions, at fund-raising events sponsored by educational, religious, charitable, fraternal, or civic organizations. Such activities are not solicitation and do not present an element of coercion or abuse the prestige of judicial office.

[3] Identification of a judge’s position in educational, religious, charitable, fraternal, or civic organizations on letterhead used for fund-raising or membership solicitation does not violate this Rule 2-3.7. The letterhead may list the judge’s title or judicial office if comparable designations are used for other persons.

[4] In addition to appointing lawyers to serve as counsel for indigent parties in individual cases, a judge may promote broader access to justice by encouraging lawyers to participate in pro bono publico legal services, if in doing so the judge does not employ coercion, or abuse the prestige of judicial office. Such encouragement may take many forms, including providing lists of available programs, training lawyers to do pro bono publico legal work, and participating in events recognizing lawyers who have done pro bono publico work.