MUNICIPAL JUDGE FACES ETHICS CHARGES FOR MOONLIGHTING AS MAYOR’S LAWYER

N.J. Law Journal reports:

A former municipal judge accused of doing legal work for his town’s mayor while serving on the bench has been charged with judicial ethics violations. Seth Davenport, who was Montville’s judge for seven years until resigning last April, also submitted a false certification denying that he represented the mayor after becoming a judge, the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct alleges in a complaint made public on Monday. During an interview with ACJC staff on Oct. 5, 2010, Davenport admitted it was “improper” for him to represent then-mayor John Rossellini Jr. while a judge and that the certification, filed in a Superior Court case, was “incorrect.” Davenport, who became Montville judge in January 2003, allegedly kept handling personal legal matters for Rosellini until at least December 2004.