From the President

佐治亚律师杂志
2024年2月，卷. 29, No. 4

为乔治亚州法官提供竞争性、一致性的薪酬

我总是说，我最喜欢的工作是在迪卡尔布县州法院担任初审法官. 但在2011年，由于经济原因，我面临着一个关键的决定. The stock market crash of a few years earlier had decimated my savings, and I no longer could fund my children’s private school tuition on my judge’s salary.

我不得不做出一个艰难的选择:要么辞去我热爱的工作，要么让我的孩子从他们唯一熟悉的学校退学. 对我来说，这是一个简单的决定. 我辞去了法官的职务，回到了私人律师事务所, 我可以过上更好的生活吗.

我不是乔治亚州唯一一个面临离开法官席的艰难抉择的法官——离法官席很远. 许多法学家因为经济原因离开了法官席, and the corollary to that is that many successful attorneys in our state, 尤其是在亚特兰大地区, 不要仅仅因为我们的工资不够高而成为法官吗.

希望这种情况在不久的将来会有所改变. 在格鲁吉亚大会本届会议期间, 我们正在考虑立法，全面改革我国司法赔偿制度，大幅度提高司法人员工资. HB 947，由Rep. 罗伯·莱弗里特(R-Elberton), an attorney, was approved overwhelmingly by the House of Representatives and as of Feb. 23项正在参议院拨款委员会接受审查.

这种立法上的关注当然是受欢迎的，也是早就应该得到的. 2016年的一份报告发现，格鲁吉亚的司法赔偿制度“充满了异常和不一致”,” and a December 2022 report found that many inconsistencies and disparities persist. 和其他州相比, Georgia judicial salaries presently rank 32nd in the United States for Supreme Court justices, 上诉法院法官排名第23位，高等法院法官的国家资助部分排名第49位(仅次于西弗吉尼亚州)。.

值得注意的是格鲁吉亚的整个司法预算, 按2024财政年度分配, 只占0.占州政府开支的6%.

I serve on the Judicial Council of Georgia’s Ad Hoc Committee on Judicial Salaries and Supplements. 司法委员会, 由乔治亚州最高法院的首席大法官奈尔斯·彼得森和查理·伯特利法官领导, has been instrumental in working with Leverett and other legislative leaders on the proposal, 如果它成为法律呢, would:

• Address the substantial and longstanding disparity in the compensation of Superior Court judges;
• Provide stability and predictability to the compensation of state-paid judges;
• Address the stagnation in judicial pay; and
• 考虑到生活成本的差异.

在改革模式下, 乔治亚州最高法院法官的全国工资排名将提高到第15位，上诉法院法官的全国工资排名将提高到第12位. After local supplements that vary wildly among judicial circuits across the state, some Superior Court judges’ salaries in Georgia rank 45th nationally, 而其他国家的排名则高达第五. The reform model would improve the lowest ranking from 45th to 14th; the highest ranking would remain at fifth in the nation with an optional locality pay, 哪一个上限是国家工资的10%.

对司法薪酬改革的必要性有更广泛的看法, I reached out to three other former Georgia jurists who left the bench for the same reason I did. I am thankful to former Supreme Court of Georgia Chief Justice Harold Melton, 前乔治亚州最高法院法官基思·布莱克威尔和前迪卡尔布县州法院法官达克斯López分享他们的个人观点.

他曾在前州长设立的委员会任职. Nathan Deal and overseen by the late then-Chief Justice Harris Hines nearly a decade ago, Melton noted that the current legislative effort is actually years in the making.

“曾经有一段时间，很难让人们相信有必要增加工资，以维持和招募一批优秀的法官供选择,” said Melton, 现在是亚特兰大Troutman Pepper公司的合伙人. “但我认为，我们现在实际上正处于这种情况下. Obviously, judges go into that work knowing that there is a substantial discount for public service. 不过，差距相当大. 这个折扣正变得越来越大.”

Melton served on the Court for 16 years before his move into private practice, a time when he said he was “staring at college tuition” for his children. 他说，保留和替换有经验的法官的双重挑战应该引起所有格鲁吉亚人的关注.

“You do face the prospect of judges leaving after 10 or 15 years,” he said. “如果你想让法官过了这一关, 可能需要某种形式的经济激励. 对于上诉法院的法官来说，这真的更尖锐因为你更有可能在亚特兰大都会区, 要么是因为你住在那里，要么是因为你经常去那里旅行，如果你离亚特兰大地区很远，你就必须有某种形式的住房, 比梅肯更远, perhaps.”

减少格鲁吉亚司法巡回法院高等法院法官的地方补偿金的不一致性，以及这种情况如何影响初审法院法官和全州上诉法院法官之间的薪酬差异，也是改革的一个关键组成部分, Melton said.

“The appellate judges don’t have the supplements that the metro circuits have, 所以这些补偿金使初审法院法官的收入远远高于上诉法院法官的收入,” he noted. “I think that is a very important system to consider how it can be retooled. 这确实是一个杂乱无章的系统，因为它现在存在, 最终的结果是，可能至少有三分之一的初审法院法官比上诉法院法官挣得多. 要想调整薪酬结构，创造一个合理的结构，确实需要付出一些努力.”

Melton said he is glad the Legislature is addressing the judicial pay issue. “法官赚得足够多，人们不会为他们感到难过, and attention typically goes toward teachers first and maybe in today’s budgetary environment, 狱警之类的人,” he said. “The circumstances separating judges and correctional officers are completely different.

“但是你们优秀的法官有其他选择. 我们希望法官们能做些别的事情. 如果他们能做点别的事情, 他们很有可能至少赚两倍, easily. And for many of them, three or four times as much is not too far outside the realm of possibility. 法官们并没有要求立法机关支付他们两倍的薪水. 但是有一些事情我认为法官希望能够提供加薪将是非常有帮助的.”

Blackwell, 在2012年至2020年担任最高法院法官之前，他是乔治亚州上诉法院的法官，现在是阿尔斯通的高级律师 & 亚特兰大的鸟, 扩大了私人执业和司法人员收入潜力之间的差异. He also expressed the need for legislative provisions that would “establish a framework ... 防止司法赔偿因通货膨胀而减少.”

“No one enters—or at least, no one ought to enter—public service to become wealthy,” he said. “公共服务不可避免地涉及个人牺牲, 尽管做出了牺牲, 我们很幸运，有许多有才华的律师愿意为格鲁吉亚的司法服务. But there are limits to how much personal sacrifice we should expect of our judges. 如果我们想继续吸引有才能的男女加入司法部门，并让他们留在那里，我们就必须在法律市场的背景下支付他们相对公平的工资. 亚特兰大律师事务所的第一年助理现在的薪水比我们的上诉法官高得多，这是错误的, 而且这也是留住优秀法官的障碍.”

Blackwell added, “It is not enough, however, to give our judges a one-time raise. 展望未来, judicial compensation must keep pace with increases in the costs of living, and in Georgia, 历史上没有. For instance, in my 10 years of judicial service at the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, 我的实际年薪减少了将近20美元,000. [资料来源:美国劳工统计局的CPI通胀计算器.年复一年, 由于通货膨胀，我的司法工资的购买力下降了, 当我的孩子们进入高中时, 开始开车，开始看大学, the continuing diminution of my compensation became an increasingly apparent problem for my family. It eventually led me to retire from judicial service and return to the private practice of law. I am quite certain that my story is not a unique one among Georgia judges.”

López, 现在是我在亚特兰大德尔坎波·格雷森律师事务所López的律师合伙人, 同意梅尔顿和布莱克威尔法官的意见. “作为法官为迪卡尔布人民服务了11年，这是我职业生涯中最大的荣誉之一, the financial realities of being a public servant prevented me from continuing to serve,” he said. “我有四个孩子, 当我的大孩子们快到上大学的年龄时, it became apparent that I could no longer continue to meet my obligations on my judicial pay, particularly when I knew I could make substantially more in the private sector. 我的故事并不独特. Most of the judges I know who have left the bench left not because they wanted to, but because they had to do what made financial sense for their families.”

对格鲁吉亚司法部门的领导人给予足够的补偿是健全和必要的公共政策. “如果我们不支付他们照顾家庭所需的薪水，我们怎么能吸引我们这个行业中最优秀、最聪明的人来担任政府中最重要的角色之一呢??” López asked. “当法官就是当公仆. 这是一种召唤，也是一种牺牲. I was happy to serve for 11 years, and my family was happy to make that sacrifice for that time. However, if we want to retain good judges, this is an issue that must be addressed. I do not expect judges to be paid like a private sector partner at a major law firm. 但法官至少应该像中级律师那样做.”

从广义上看, HB 947规定了最高法院法官的最高工资, 上诉法院法官, 州商业法院法官和高等法院法官. 每一年度预算中的具体薪金将通过大会的经常拨款程序确定.

每一级法院法官的最高薪金结构将按每年与联合国法官薪金挂钩的公式计算.S. District Court judges in the Northern District of Georgia from two years prior. The maximum annual salary for Supreme Court justices would be 100% of that number or currently $223,400; for 上诉法院法官, 95% or $212,230; for the State-wide Business Court judge, 92% or $205,528; and for Superior Court judges, 90% or $201,060. 目前高等法院法官的地方补贴制度将被法官工资的10%的“地方工资”所取代, bringing the total pay for Superior Court judges to a maximum of $221,166.

该提案还规定了对现任法官的“选择加入”要求，现任法官的任期将持续到10月10日. 我可以通过向高等法院法官委员会和巡回法院每个县的管理机构提交书面通知来选择加入. 如果他们没有在截止日期前完成，他们将继续使用现行制度.

I commend the House of Representatives for approving HB 947 in a bipartisan vote of 154-13 on Feb. 15. I hope the Senate will do the same or pass a version that both sides can agree to and Gov. 布莱恩·坎普可以签署成为法律. 乔治亚州需要一个补偿制度，为我们的法官在我们的司法制度中履行的至关重要和日益困难的职责提供有竞争力和一贯的报酬.