The Judicial Inquiry Commission has considered your request for an advisory opinion
as to whether you or the other Circuit Judge in your circuit are disqualified in a certain
proceeding due to any of the following circumstances:

1. A counterclaim has been filed in the proceeding alleging that
contributions were made in violation of a provision of the will at
issue which states that contributions were to be used exclusively in
two named counties. In 1985, two partners in a law firm of which
the presiding judge also was then a partner gave an interpretation
of this provision to a now-deceased beneficiary who was one of the
trustees of the testamentary trust created by the will in which they
advised that it was “virtually impossible” that a court would interpret
the will to permit a contribution to a certain educational institution
located outside these two counties. The counterclaim alleges
numerous contributions outside the two counties, including one to
the institution at issue in the legal opinion rendered by the judge’s
then law partners.

2. The presiding judge and the other circuit judge each have signed
an order confirming the appointment of a successor trustee for the
trust. The will required that the name of any successor trustee be
filed in the court but it did not require any order of
confirmation. The counterclaim alleges that the trustees
confirmed by the two judges have made improper
distributions of trust funds.

3. The official court reporter for the other circuit judge is the mother-in-law of one of the trustees who is a plaintiff/counter- defendant.