Arent Fox partner Bernice Leber, who is the president-elect of the New York State Bar Association, has written an opinion piece that was published in the January 28 edition of the New York Law Journal.

The op-ed, "In Pay Crisis, Lawyers Should Get Involved," calls upon attorneys in New York to lobby the state's legislature and the US Congress to increase judicial salaries for state and federal judges, respectively.

"While New York State judges have been denied any pay increase for almost 10 years, the federal judiciary has not done much better," Bernice notes.

Bernice warns that without greater efforts by New York attorneys to procure a pay raise for judges, more and more jurists will leave the bench to seek higher salaries in private practice thereby diluting the judicial talent pool.

"All lawyers -- everyone of you reading this piece -- should care," Bernice writes. "The quality of our judiciary and its ability to attract bright, hard-working and knowledgeable candidates is important to all of us, and those we serve. When judges resign because they can no longer afford to be a judge, we all lose."

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