Rule 3.12 Compensation for Extrajudicial Activities

Judges are allowed to get paid for outside activities, like teaching a class or writing a book, as long as those activities are already allowed under the rules. This means a judge doesn't have to do everything for free just because they hold a judicial position.

However, there's a limit. If accepting payment would make a reasonable person think the judge's independence, honesty, fairness, temperament, or ability to do their job is compromised, then the judge cannot accept that payment. The key question is whether the payment creates an appearance problem, not whether the judge actually did anything wrong. Judges need to think about how the payment would look to someone watching from the outside, not just whether they personally feel influenced by it.