BY ADAM SICHKO
asichko@bizjournals.com | 518-640-6818

New York's 1,300 judges have come closer to their first pay raise in a dozen years.

The vast majority of legislators, with surprisingly little argument, voted late last month to create an independent commission that will determine how much judges will be paid.

The vote appears to sever the habit of legislators tying judicial pay raises to pay hikes for themselves - a key reason why judges last saw their paychecks increase in the late 1990s, even for a cost-of-living adjustment.

Top members of the judiciary said the drought has had two impacts: chasing away would-be judges who would handle a range of business issues and other legal matters; and leading talented judges to take more lucrative jobs at law firms or law schools.

Others remain skeptical the commission will bring quick change.

This much is clear: No judges in any other state have gone longer without a pay raise than those in New York.

"This represents a sort of justice. I'm sad it comes so late, but thrilled it comes at all," said Judith Kaye, chief judge of the state for 15 years until state rules forced her to retire in 2008.

Kaye is just one of the judges who sued governors and the Legislature in recent years to force the pay raises.

In the latest round of cases, the Court of Appeals ruled 5-1 early this year that it's unconstitutional to tie judicial pay raises to those for legislators.

"It put a cloud of disrespect on the judiciary," said Kaye, now of counsel at the New York City law firm Skadden Arps. "Nobody goes on the bench wanting to be a millionaire. But at least they must be fairly compensated."

Judges in the state Supreme Court system, or the trial court level, earn $136,700 a year. Judicial advocates have long pushed for those wages to mirror the $174,000 annual salary of federal district court judges. Doing that would cost about $50 million. Judges in upper-level courts would likely receive comparable increases.

"It's about fairness and equity. The judges will never get a raise at the rate we're going," said Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari (D-Cohoes). "A pay raise for us is out of the question, with layoffs looming and people hurting. We see no end in sight if we keep linking our pay with theirs."

Still, not all judges are happy about the commission, calling it an excuse to avoid immediate action on pay raises.

"I don't see this pay commission at all as some sort of victory," said Judge W. Dennis Duggan of Albany County Family Court.

His assistants are on pace to earn more than he will next year, he said. He has cut back on vacations and hasn't upgraded from his 2002 Ford Focus while trying to stretch his paycheck.

Duggan, a 17-year judge, worries about the damage the continuing lack of pay raises has inflicted on the judiciary.

"Virtually everybody in the legal profession, at any higher level, makes more than the chief judge of the second-largest judiciary in America," he said.

The bill cleared the Assembly 99-22 and unanimously passed the Senate on Nov. 29. Gov. David Paterson wrote the bill and is expected to sign it into law.