Request By:
Honorable William M. Hall
Taylor County Attorney
P.O. Box 339
Campbellsville, Kentucky 42718
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You have questions about the office of trial commissioner:
"1. What are the basic duties that a Trial Commissioner must perform?
"2. What may he perform in place of the District Judge when asked to do so by the District judge?
"3. In the event that he is an attorney, must he be full-time as a Trial Commissioner or may he practice law in conjunction with the duties of a Trial Commissioner?"
As relates to question 1, under § 113 of the Kentucky Constitution as amended by the Judicial Article, all trial commissioners of the district court shall have the power to perform such duties of the district court as may be prescribed by the Supreme Court of Kentucky. See also H.B. 32, Section 9, 1976 Extraordinary Session.
The answer to question 2 is the same as in question no. 1, above.
Concerning question 3, Section 113(5) of the Constitution, as amended, provides that "In any county in which no district judge resides the chief judge of the district shall appoint a trial commissioner who shall be a resident of such county and who shall be an attorney if one is qualified and available." Under this constitutional provision there is no requirement that an attorney appointed as trial commissioner serve full time. Thus he could engage in private practice, subject to ethical and conflicts of interest principales. As to the ethical question of whether the attorney/trial commissioner must restrict his practice to civil cases, we suggest you take this up with Mr. Leslie Whitmer, Director of the Kentucky Bar Association. See R.C.A. 3.530.