Legal News

Senior High: Judges Bolting for the Private Sector, But Clinging to Pay

By Ashby Jones

A few years ago, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts famously deemed Congress’s unwillingness to hike the pay of federal judges a “Constitutional crisis.” We don’t know if the chief was on the money with that rather memorable assertion, but the issue of judicial pay certainly seems to be passing through our radar screen with increasing frequency.

The latest thread on this broader story comes to us from Lawrence Hurley of the Los Angeles Daily Journal. In an article out Friday (link not available), Hurley chronicles a trend seemingly on the rise: federal judges keeping their full judicial salaries even after stepping down to pursue lucrative private-sector jobs. Hurley reports that six of the 11 federal judges who’ve stepped down in the past year have retained full salaries while pulling down pay elsewhere.

Writes Hurley:

[I]n recent years, judges are increasingly joining law firms or becoming private mediators. . . . In both instances, former judges can expect to earn at least double their existing salaries while still cashing their full judicial paychecks. Mediators, on average, charge between $400 and $600 an hour and up to $10,000 a day for their services. Companies that provide mediation services, such as Irvine-based JAMS, are known to aggressively recruit respected judges by offering lucrative pay packages.

But is this so wrong? Many judges and former judges say absolutely not, pointing to the fact that the federal bench has not had a significant pay raise since 1990. Federal district judges currently earn around $169,000, only slightly more than first-year associates at top law firms. Judges also argue that, well, don’t blame them: federal statute gives them a sweet deal. Judges are entitled to full pay after retirement after going senior, and that those who continue to serve are effectively working for free as a result.

So while there may not be anything illegal or illicit about judges departing for greener pastures — while clinging to the green of their previous pasture — the development is taking its toll on the federal judiciary. Senior judges are a vital part of the judiciary, adding a badly needed supplemental work-force to a system that’s often overburdened.

But this decade, four judges eligible for senior status have taken jobs in the private sector, and another, Florence-Marie Cooper, is set to follow suit next year, according to Audrey B. Collins, the district’s chief judge.

“When I started here, it was a culture at the court for senior judges to stay, and it was such a resource,” Collins said. “By staying, they relieve so much pressure from the caseload.”

Collins stressed, however, that she appreciates that judges who haven’t had a significant pay raise for almost two decades have a legitimate reason to leave.

“I totally understand,” she said. “It’s hard to stay when you can go out there and … supplement your salary.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on September 25, 2009 (boomark / email).