''Take care of me': 'In his photo' complained and the judge was reprimanded for hearings with a conflict of interest

July 9, 2020   

The Judicial Complaints Commissioner, retired Judge Uri Shoham, received a number of complaints against the outgoing President of the Tel Aviv District Court, Judge Eitan Orenstein, following correspondence between him and Efi Naveh, then chairman of the Bar Association. How can you become a programmer, paramedic, or multimedia producer without investing a single penny? However, the Commissioner ruled that there were no criminal aspects to this – although there was reason to suspect a flaw in their conduct. An organization in Tel Aviv filed several complaints with the Commissioner regarding correspondence that was revealed between the former head of the Bar Association, Efi Naveh, and the outgoing President of the District Court, Judge Eitan Orenstein, while Orenstein was running for the position of president. Naveh recommended Orenstein’s appointment to the position, which was ultimately approved, but the correspondence that preceded this between the two gives off a bad smell of "give and take" as well as friendly correspondence. Shoham notes in his decision: "I would not see any flaw in this correspondence, were it not for the fact that Naveh's office specializes primarily in the field of torts, so that it has a great interest in promoting this field at the expense of other areas of law, a fact that was probably known to the President. At the time when the correspondence in question took place, the President would have been expected to make it clear to Naveh that he intended to promote and cause professionalism in all areas of law conducted in the District Court, including the field of torts, which was not done - and it is a shame." Regarding the friendly conversation between the two, regarding the conference and other issues - the Commissioner wrote: "It seems that here too there is reason for a flaw in the aforementioned correspondence, especially when, in the background, the discussion is before the search committee for the position of president of the court. This conversation, whether it is conducted orally or via instant messaging, as was done in this case, must be professional and businesslike, and there is no place for statements that characterize a conversation between friends or close acquaintances. This is especially true when, in the same correspondence, the president tells Noah to "look after me" in the search committee. Regarding two decisions issued in Noah's case by Judge Orenstein near the time of their correspondence, the commissioner wrote: "Even if the president's position is accepted that these are essentially technical decisions, one should not ignore the fact that we are dealing with decisions issued after a period of approximately two months from the date of his election to the presidency, with the support of Attorney Noah, by virtue of his position as chairman of the bar. It therefore seems appropriate that the president withdraw his hands from handling this case, including from issuing decisions that are technical." The organization in whose name the complaint was filed said: "We welcome the decision. We hope that judges will pay attention to the rules and avoid personal contact with attorneys who appear before them.".