LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Karen Baker, whose picture and judicial title appeared in a fashion designer’s advertisement earlier this year, has asked the designer to quit using her name, title or picture for any reason, the high court’s communications counsel said Friday.
An advertisement showing Baker wearing a suit designed by Jamileh Kamran appeared in the April 15 issue of theDaily Record, a Little Rock based newspaper aimed at lawyers. The advertisement identified her as “Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Karen Baker.”
“Justice Baker did not know about the ad April [15] until the [Arkansas] Times called her about it,” Stephanie Harris, the communications counsel, wrote in an e-mail to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Friday.
“She received no compensation of any kind,” Harris added. “Once she found out about it, Justice Baker asked the designer not to use her name, title or photo for any reason and was assured she wouldn’t.
“That is all she is able to say on the subject,” Harris wrote.
Rule 1.3 of the Arkansas Code of Judicial Conduct says, “A judge shall not abuse the prestige of judicial office to advance the personal or economic interests of the judge or others, or allow others to do so.”
Beneath the rule, the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission’s website includes a comment saying, “It is improper for a judge to use or attempt to use his or her position to gain personal advantage or deferential treatment of any kind.
“For example, it would be improper for a judge to allude to his or her judicial status to gain favorable treatment in encounters with traffic officials. Similarly, a judge must not use judicial letterhead to gain an advantage in conducting his or her personal business,” it adds.
In an interview, David Stewart, the commission’s executive director, said, “This has been interpreted as saying you can’t ... trade on your judge’s [position] for anyone else’s benefit either.”
Stewart did not discuss any specific judge, but said the canons apply to judges at all levels throughout the state.
Steven Lubet, a legal ethicist and law professor at Northwestern University, said, “This is the sort of thing a judge should not do.
“I think it is a problem, but a very small one,” Lubet added.
Lubet, a co-author of the book Judicial Conduct and Ethics, said, “Looking at the strict wording of the canon, this would be something the judge should not do.”
The American Bar Association’s model code of judicial conduct is similar to Arkansas’.
Rule 1.2 of the association’s code says, “A judge shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary, and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety.”
The code includes six comments on that rule. The first one says, “Public confidence in the judiciary is eroded by improper conduct and conduct that creates the appearance of impropriety. This principle applies to both the professional and personal conduct of a judge.”
The Daily Record advertisement showed Baker smiling and posing in a long sleeved suit. The caption identified her as “Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Karen Baker.”
“Happy Mother’s Day!” the text read. “Gift your mom with a custom designed outfit made especially for her. Any size, any style, couture fashion, quality fabric. Over 40 years of experience.”
Harris said Baker paid for the suit but that she did not know how much it cost and that she wasn’t able to reach the judge immediately to find out.
Reached by phone earlier this week and asked about the advertisement, Kamran said, “Lady, I’m out of the country right now, and you’re calling at the wrong time.” She suggested calling back Monday.
Baker did not return calls seeking comment.
The Arkansas Times reported in April that Baker said she had released rights to photos that Kamran made of the judge in a suit Kamran created for her. Baker said the release allowed Kamran to use the photos in Life in Chenal magazine.
The Life in Chenal item was published in September 2010, when Baker was an Arkansas Appeals Court judge engaged in a campaign for the Supreme Court.
The caption above her picture said, “Judge Karen Baker Candidate for Arkansas Supreme Court.” Beneath were the words, “Professional suit designed by Jamileh Kamran.”
Baker, a Clinton resident, was elected to the Supreme Court in November 2010.
Asked if it was correct that Baker viewed the item as an article with her picture, not an advertisement, as the Democrat-Gazette had been told she did, Harris replied Friday, “Yes, that is accurate from her perspective.”
But the magazine’s online edition lists “Jamileh Kamran Designer Couturiere” as an advertiser and the advertisement as being on page 11, where Baker’s picture appears.
Kamran, also known as Jamileh K. Afsordeh and Kobra Afsordeh, and her brother, Jalil Kamran, also known as Jim Kamran, were each sentenced in 2006 to a year of probation and fined $10,000 after federal agents found counterfeit designer purses and wallets at two Little Rock businesses they operated.
The two pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Little Rock to charges of trafficking in counterfeit goods, and each repaid $2,470.52 to various manufacturers whose names were used without permission.
Their attorney said the two had routinely told customers that the merchandise wasn’t genuine and that the customers bought the items knowing they were knockoffs.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 06/11/2011