Judiciary
Judicial Conference Cost-Cutting Focuses on Pay, Court-Sharing
Posted Sep 16, 2008, 01:01 pm CST
By Martha Neil
A variety of cost-cutting measures were approved today by the Judicial Conference of the United States. They include efforts to limit future compensation costs as well as several policies that encourage courtroom-sharing by some federal judges.
The measures include future payroll cost-containment efforts concerning "two-thirds of the federal judiciary's employees," which are to be achieved via "significant changes in the pay system," according to a press release from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. "Specifically, the Conference approved 40 new position benchmarks, job titles, and classification levels," the release states, and "also altered the salary progression policy and performance management guidelines."
The release doesn't make clear whether any judges might be affected by the pay changes, and doesn't give any specific figures.
In addition to calling for senior trial judges to share courtrooms in newly constructed buildings, the release continues, the Conference "took steps to develop and implement a courtroom sharing policy for magistrate judges." It also instituted plans "to study the feasibility of and develop an appropriate policy for sharing courtrooms by non-senior district judges in large courthouses, and to study courtroom use in bankruptcy courts, and if the results warrant, develop a sharing policy for those courtrooms."
The economy drive additionally includes plans to curtail rent for court buildings and reduce the size of judicial chambers and other court facilities.
Additional coverage:
Legal Times: "Federal Judges May Start Sharing Courtrooms"
Updated at 3:20 p.m. to include additional press release information about pay changes and updated at 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 17, 2008 to include link to subsequent Legal Times article.