On June 22, The Jacksonville Bar Association honored the local judiciary with its annual judicial reception.
The event was fun-filled and a reminder of how fortunate we are to have such a qualified and hard-working bench and why competitive judge salaries are essential to maintaining the current level of highly skilled judges.
As the old joke goes, “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.”
While this James Goldsmith quote may not be the most suitable introduction to the topic of judicial pay, it makes the point that, most of the time, you get what you pay for.
In 2000, salaries for Florida’s state court justices, appellate judges and trial court judges were among the most competitive in the nation.
Since that time, Florida’s ranking has dropped steadily year after year.
According to National Center for State Court data, judicial pay for Florida’s trial court judges dropped from fifth to 28th over the past 15 years.
During that same period, judicial pay for the justices of the Florida Supreme Court dropped from third to 32nd.
Florida judicial salaries have not come close to keeping up with inflation. For example, had the salary for Florida district court of appeal judges kept pace with inflation over the past 15 years, their pay would be approximately $40,000 per year higher.
Despite this salary lag, Florida is extremely efficient when it comes to the use of judicial resources.
Nationwide, Florida is the eighth-lowest state in judges per 100,000 population at 4.5.
By comparison, our neighboring states of Alabama and Georgia have 13 and 10 trial judges, respectively, per 100,000 in population.
Our judges are working longer hours deciding issues of law that have become more and more complex. As our laws become more complex, the need for highly skilled attorneys to serve as judges increases.
But there is a financial reality that attorneys who consider leaving private practice to pursue a judgeship must confront.
Logically, a competitive wage for trial judges should be in the general ballpark with that of lawyers in private practice.
However, according to salary figures from the National Association for Law Placement, this is not the case.
Florida’s trial judges make approximately $40,000 less than the median base salary for an eight-year associate in a law firm.
Money is not everything and those seeking to become judges should be primarily motivated to serve the public good.
However, qualified attorneys who have a genuine calling to perform public service are nevertheless dissuaded from applying for judgeships in lieu of other opportunities to serve the public.
Miami-Dade County had more than 25 assistant county attorneys whose 2013 salaries were above $200,000.
In 2015, the Leon County attorney made approximately $80,000 more than the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Florida.
This is not a criticism of those local governments for overpaying, rather it is a compliment to those local governments for recognizing the value of engaging skilled attorneys.
The present salary structure for our judges discourages qualified attorneys from seeking judicial positions.
The same is true for retaining judges as, the current salary structure encourages veteran judges to seek the greener pastures of other public service or private law firms.
Thankfully our local judiciary has the best and brightest. But without upward adjustments in judicial pay, the quality of attorney our state can attract to operate the judiciary will be limited.