Rule 51:3.12 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 judicial conduct rules or other laws. The pay they receive needs to be reasonable, not excessive or out of line with the work involved.

The catch is that the payment cannot create doubts about the judge's fairness or honesty. If a reasonable person looking at the situation would think the money is influencing how the judge acts on the bench, or that it compromises their independence, then the judge cannot accept it. This rule is meant to let judges have outside interests and earn fair pay for them, while still making sure the public can trust that judges are not being swayed by outside money.