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A judge may not appear in a potentially for-profit documentary about high-conflict custody cases, citing concerns over judicial impartiality, confidentiality, and the risk of lending judicial prestige to commercial ventures, the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee has ruled.
Acting April 16 in Opinion Number 2025-10, the committee said that while the judge would not discuss any specific cases or accept payment or reimbursement, “the commercial and entertainment aspects of a judicial appearance [in a] documentary movie outweigh the legitimate public information aspects.”
The inquiring judge had been approached by a filmmaker producing a documentary on the effects of high-conflict custody disputes on children. The judge told the committee the film’s intent was educational — to inform families entering court proceedings about the emotional toll such conflicts can take on children and to encourage mediation.
