Change in retirement age has done little to help draw experienced candidates
By Peter Vieth
BridgeTower Media Newswires
RICHMOND, VA — Legislators say Virginia’s retirement benefits structure is making it hard to attract seasoned attorneys to serve as judges in the state courts. The benefits do not accrue fast enough for lawyers who enter the state retirement system in their 50s, the officials say.
Lawmakers who elect judges for Virginia circuit, general district and juvenile and domestic relations courts say they approach many older lawyers who say they “can’t make it work” to give up a successful law practice to enter the state retirement system.
The comments came at an Oct. 20 meeting of the Virginia Committee on District Courts. State Sen. Ryan T. McDougle, R-Mechanicsville, said the benefit structure discourages people with healthy law practices from going on the bench.
“We go around to the most noted lawyers and they say, ‘Why would I give it up,’” McDougle said.
Sen. Richard H. Stuart, R-Montross, said legislators sometimes encountered both reluctant well-qualified judicial candidates who balked at the “huge sacrifice” required to give up their practice and eager but less-qualified candidates seeking a judgeship only because they could not make a living as attorneys.
Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons agreed the retirement structure was a hindrance. “We see it. We think it’s a problem, too,” Lemons said. He said the court staff would provide all the data the legislators might need for a study.
McDougle said the retirement system ought to be set up to encourage lawyers in their late 50s to become judges. Lemons said the current “sweet spot” age seemed to be in the early 30s.
The judicial retirement age was increased from 70 to 73 in 2015 for judges named to the bench after July 1 of that year. Legislators, included Sen. John S. Edwards, D-Roanoke, had urged a later retirement date in order to attract more lawyers to the bench. The change in retirement age has done little to help recruitment, legislators said.
“At some point, we really want to start working on this,” Stuart said.
Despite concerns about funding, the Committee on District Courts certified two new judgeships in the city of Hampton. The panel agreed the caseload numbers supported extra judges for both the Hampton General District Court and the Hampton Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
McDougle said he would advance the proposal to authorize those new judgeships, but he said there was a “strong possibility” the new seats would not be funded.
He and others at the CDC meeting shared concerns that circuit judges might fill the authorized bench positions without appreciating the risk that the bench seats could go unfunded in the 2018 Assembly session. A lawyer might give up a practice only to “have the rug pulled out,” McDougle said.
Lemons agreed it would put General Assembly members in a tough spot if the circuit judges were to make a pro tempore appointment, as allowed by Va. Code § 16.1-69.9:2, only to have the appointment expire a few months later if the Assembly chose not to fill the slot.
“It makes it difficult for us,” Stuart said. “We might have to call a candidate and advise them, ‘Be cautious about leaving your law practice,’” he said.
