12 year pay freeze for New York judges

Here is an interesting article about the remuneration of judges in New York, where the bench hasn’t seen a pay rise in 12 years. According to the article, judges have traditionally left the bench in one of two ways - retirement or death – but that the poor salary package has led to many resigning to go back into private practice. The latest judge to resign and explicitly cite the pay as a key reason is James M. McGuire, a judge on the intermediate state appeals court in Manhattan. McGuire resigned his position and gave up his judicial salary of $144,000 to be a partner at Dechert, where average partner pay is $1.4 million. McGuire said: “I tormented myself for the longest period of time about whether I should go, because I love the work,” he said. “And then I realized, ‘I’ve got no choice. The only responsible thing for my family is to go.’ ” Justice McGuire, 57, has two children, ages 5 and 3.

12 year pay freeze for New York judges nytimes.com Tue, Jul 5, 2011