Pay Raises for Judges?
Yesterday, I was at the bench conferencing a case with the wonderful Justice Jeffrey Sunshine in Brooklyn, when he received an email that the New York State Assembly went into recess without deciding the issue of pay raises for judges.
At first blush this may not seem to be an issue for non-lawyers. In fact, it may not seem to be an issue at all. But, consider John Glenn’s comment about going into space. He commented that as he sat in the capsule he realized that it was built by the lowest bidder.
The same logic works in the law. Perhaps the most important person in the whole process is the judge. To the non-lawyer, the word ”judge” brings up the image of a wise and beneficent patriarch, wisely dispensing rewards to the just and punishments to the guilty.
The reality is that a judge is just a lawyer, who managed to get his or hers political party’s nomination. Once elected, some are excellent, some average and some are plain awful.
We need more excellent judges. The judges are the front line of where law and justice meet. Can we really afford to have justice meted out by the lowest bidder?
The open secret is that many lawyers who for one reason or another cannot make it practicing law turn to the bench. This is a dangerous new trend. For generations a lawyer who plied his trade for 30 or 40 years would be elevated to the bench, so that his accumulated wisdom could be used for the common good. This system would invariably break down when judge’s salaries did not keep up with reason. When we offer less more for a position, then less qualified candidates will apply.
In order to secure the best candidates for judgeship, we need to pay these men and women a sufficient income. An attorney who earns over two hundred thousand dollars a year is simply not going to take a pay cut to be a judge. The counter argument is that lawyers are overpaid and therefore there is no reason to over pay judges. We see stories that new lawyers can earn between a $100,000 to $150,000 thousand dollars a year. (First year’s lawyer’s pay) First, in New York, that type of a salary is barely making ends meet. And second it doesn’t account for that fact that a new lawyer has to work about 120 hours a week, that’s 6240 hours a year for $16.03 an hour. It not much better for us older guys. Hell, it’s Saturday and I’m blogging with my coffee, before getting to a full (that 12 hours) day’s work. I’m hoping I can take a half day off tomorrow.
But, after 20 years of toiling, an attorney should be doing better that Can we do better? The average salary of a judge is only $136, 700 a year. The Chief Judge of the State of New York earns $156,000. (See the latest in Newsday.)
As a practicing attorney, I can tell you earning a living can be difficult. My hat is off to any attorney who can command $500 an hour and earn in excess of $200,000 a year. If the richest guy can hire the best lawyer, why should we, the public be forced to settle for the cheapest judge?
In order to attract quality to the bench, we need to be able to pay a realistic wage. If we are not willing to pay enough money to attract excellent judges, then we deserve to be saddle with judges who are not competent for the job. This is especially true for divorce work. We need smart, competent and caring judges presiding over divorces. We do not need judge who is sitting on the bench because he couldn’t get a job elsewhere. But, if we do not act, then we will drive Judges like Jeff Sunshine off the bench. Please let your state senator and state assembly person know we need to keep quality on the bench.
