Lawyer advises $110,000 pay to court judges

If you want better justice, then you gotta pay, says Jenner &Block's Jerold S. Solovy.

To attract more qualified judges to the bench in Cook County,the attorney told the State Compensation Review Board yesterday,judges should be paid $110,000 a year.

That's 51 percent more than the $73,000 a year they've receivedsince their pay raise last July 1.

If money's any measure, such a raise would make justice in CookCounty a few thousand bucks better than that dispensed by the highestcourt in the land. U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burgergets $108,000. His associates collect $104,100 a year.

Solovy, chairman of the Special Commission on the Administrationof Justice in Cook County, buttressed his argument by revealing payscales at his own prestigious firm.

A green law school graduate with no experience will begin at$44,000 a year at Jenner & Block this spring, Solovy says.

A junior J&B partner, who for some reason wants to be judge,will see his annual salary halved if he goes to the bench. Solovywonders how the poor brute will be able to send his children tocollege on a judge's measly pay.

The pay board, which makes recommendations to the GeneralAssembly, will decide the wisdom of Solovy's position next Wednesday.