JUDGES IN NEW YORK

If you feel your case is before a difficut judge, bear this in mind: the state's 1,300 judges have not received a pay increase to reflect changes in the cost of living since 1998, when the last judicial raise was enacted. And with Albany officials unwilling to grant raises in the midst of a recession, recent litigation over the question apparently is headed for a final showdown at the New York State Court of Appeals. The pay of Supreme Court justices is over $30,000 less than the pay earned annually by federal district court judges and state judicial salaries have lost between one-quarter and one-third of their value since 1998, In fact, compensation for New York legal professionals rose dramatically, with the anomalous result that salaries of young, newly minted lawyers often exceeded those of the experienced jurists before whom they appear.