In her first official speech to judges from around the state, Supreme Court Chief Justice Pat Roggensack said Wednesday that she’s working on a plan to boost their pay.
Roggensack said she’s been consulting with supreme court justices in other states about the best way to win legislative support for higher judicial salaries. She said the state needs to offer judges more pay to attract a diverse pool of qualified applicants .
“You don’t have someone that is a partner in a major law firm that is willing to take a job as a judgeship,” she said. “You have kids in college — you can’t afford to pay the tuition with what you make.”
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Roggensack said she doesn’t expect the state to match the salaries of leading law firms. However, she pointed to Ohio as a possible model: There, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor convinced lawmakers to raise judicial pay this year by more than $20,000 to $147,000.
The current salary for a Wisconsin judge is $131,000. The state currently ranks 34th among the states for judicial pay. Ohio ranks 38th.
Check out how Ohio judicial salaries are now slated to increase in 2018 below:
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