CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A commission’s report on West Virginia judges’ salaries is going back to the drawing board to ensure it’s complete — not to conclude a higher recommendation is necessary, the dean of West Virginia University’s law school said today.
“We did get some feedback from judges,” said law school dean Greg Bowman.
“What was pointed out was that there was information out there that we had not considered. And we thought upon reflection that if we’re going to do the best job we can for the Legislature, if we’re going to do a thorough review and we’re going to serve the citizens of this state the best we can then we should take another crack at this.”
The West Virginia Judicial Compensation Commission, which had finalized a report recommending a 4.25 percent raise for judges, agreed during a meeting last month to revise its work after receiving some feedback from representatives of the judicial branch.
Supreme Court justices currently earn $136,000 a year; circuit judges, $126,000; and family court judges, $94,500. The last time West Virginia judges got a pay raise was 2011, as part of incremental increases that were approved five years earlier.
MORE: Read the judicial compensation report.
Members of the commission voted Sept. 26 to suspend their report, which was completed at the end of last month, and produce a new one. The report had been due by Sept. 1.
The commission — which includes the law school dean, two members of the public named by the state Senate president and two named by the House speaker — met just once, August 24, to discuss judicial salaries and then once more, Aug. 31, to adopt its report.
“This is a new commission. We got started and took a first crack at what is a very complicated issue,” Bowman said today on MetroNews “Talkline.”
“Any time you do something for the first time you look back and realize perhaps we should have done this and maybe we could do that better.”
Among several other factors, the commission was supposed to compare judicial salaries to what might be made in the private sector in careers such as arbitration or mediation, but the first final report said that information wasn’t immediately available: “Consequently, the Commission did not examine data for this factor.”
Similarly, the commission was supposed to examine compensation of attorneys in the private sector.
“The Commission attempted to locate information on the compensation of West Virginia attorneys, specifically those in the private sector. However, the Commission is unaware of any organization or entity that collects compensation information that distinguishes between public and private sector employment,” members wrote.
The commission did look at statistics provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “This information shows that West Virginia’s justices and circuit court judges are in the top 25 percent of the attorney salaries in the state. However, this information averages all attorney salaries, regardless of experience level.”
Bowman concluded on “Talkline” today that better information could be provided for the report.
“There’s more detailed information out there than we had in hand,” Bowman said. “If we’re going to look at all eight factors, we need to go back and look at this again.”
He said the commission also has a statutory responsibility to produce a complete report.
“First of all, it’s relevant because the statute says that we’re supposed to consider it,” Bowman said. “I’m a lawyer, and I’m the only lawyer on the commission and we really do have to do what the statute tells us to do.”
Bowman acknowledged that motivation for members of the judiciary may extend beyond the kind of money that may be made in the private sector.
“The fact that it’s relevant doesn’t mean it’s equivalent or equal,” he said. “Judges are public servants. I’m a public employee. And public employees in my experience take their jobs very seriously and they do the job in large part because they want to serve the greater good. So it doesn’t mean equal, but it is relevant.”
There were five candidates in the 2016 Supreme Court race that was won in the end by Beth Walker, and the winner could have been elected with as little as 21 percent of the vote. Walker won 39 percent.
But Bowman noted that incumbent circuit judges often go unopposed. Conventional wisdom is that one factor in that is lawyers who don’t want to take a risk on going up against the judge, lose and then represent a client in the judge’s courtroom.
Bowman said pay could be an incentive for potential candidates.
“If you really want the best talent possible in these judicial seats, perhaps the competition should be increased,” Bowman said.
The Judicial Compensation Commission was formed during the 2016 legislative session, setting up the 5-member panel to study and recommend salaries for state Supreme Court justices, circuit court judges and family court judges.
The idea, advocates of the bill said, was to prevent judges themselves from having to ask legislators for raises. Some said creation of the commission would be another step toward taking politics out of the judicial branch.
“I think you will see this commission will continue to exist,” Bowman said today.
.@WVULawDean talks with @HoppyKercheval about judicial pay raises. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIAoe1 pic.twitter.com/72TgdEPXPY
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) October 4, 2017