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Federal Judge Rejoins Law Firm for 'Financial Reasons'
James T. Giles leaves bench for Pepper Hamilton, where he worked for 11 years and became the first black partner
The Legal Intelligencer
October 07, 2008
Senior U.S. District Judge James T. Giles has left the federal bench to return to Pepper Hamilton, the firm where he worked for 11 years and became its first black partner before he was appointed to the court in 1979.
Giles, who served a seven-year term as chief judge of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 1999 to 2006, said in an interview that he decided to leave the bench for "financial reasons," and that he would have stayed on the court if a "meaningful" judicial pay raise had been passed by Congress. The federal judiciary hasn't had a salary hike in more than a decade, Giles said, and the cost-of-living increases it did get were "insufficient." "If there's not some movement on the salary front, more senior judges will leave," Giles said.
Federal district court judges are currently paid $169,300 a year, appellate judges $179,500, associate Supreme Court justices $208,100, and the chief justice $217,400. All are permitted to earn an additional $21,000 a year for teaching.
While those figures may seem hefty to the average worker, they are out of sync with the rapid increases in lawyers' salaries. In recent years, many federal judges have watched their law clerks go on to earn more than the judges in their first year in the private sector.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has urged Congress to pass a pay hike, complaining that while the national average wage rate has risen by 17.8 percent since 1969, the average salary for federal judges has effectively dropped by 23.9 percent.
Giles said that he was at one point hopeful that Roberts' lobbying efforts would pay off, but that he ultimately realized that the issue was too "politicized" and that judicial salaries were likely to remain stagnant.
At Pepper Hamilton, Giles said he plans to take of counsel status and focus mainly on mediation and arbitration matters, as well as advising clients and assisting the firm's litigators in crafting their briefing and trial strategies.
"Jim Giles is a remarkable jurist, lawyer and person," said Barbara W. Mather, a senior partner with Pepper Hamilton and former chairwoman of the firm's litigation and dispute resolution department. "He is highly regarded by lawyers and judges around the country not only for his thoughtful and fair adjudication, but also for his unfailingly courteous manner. He is a terrific addition to the litigation department."
Nina M. Gussack, chairwoman of Pepper Hamilton's executive committee, said: "We are delighted that when Judge Giles decided to step away from the bench, he elected to return to Pepper. With his fine reputation, experience and talent, he would have been much sought after by most law firms in the country and could have gone anywhere. We are thrilled that he chose Philadelphia and Pepper."
Giles, 65, graduated from Amherst College and earned his law degree at Yale in 1967.
After brief stints as a clerk at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and as a field attorney at the National Labor Relations Board, Giles joined Pepper Hamilton in 1968 as its first black lawyer and in 1974 was the first person of color to be elected to the firm's partnership.
In choosing to return to Pepper, Giles cited his strong and long-standing friendships with the lawyers who had served as his mentors early in his career. "Over the years, I have remained friends with Barbara Mather and other mentors at Pepper, with many who have moved on to start their own firms and with others who I now find have come to Pepper from other firms," Giles said.
Pepper's practice "is of the highest quality," Giles said, and "I am committed to being an integral part of that laudable legal reputation."
As a judge, Giles garnered national attention for his handling of several massive cases, including In re Asbestos School Litigation and In re Asbestos Products Liability Litigation, a case that now involves more than 13 million claims and was first presided over by the late U.S. District Judge Charles R. Weiner.
Giles also presided over the multidistrict litigation captioned In re Air Crash near Peggy's Cove, which involved a Swiss Air crash over international waters near Nova Scotia in September 1998, and Hurt v. Philadelphia Housing Authority, which resulted in a landmark decision that lead paint injuries do not create claims under certain federal statutes.
Legal recruiter Michael Coleman of Coleman Nourian said he sees Giles' decision to join Pepper Hamilton as a "win-win" for the firm.
Coleman is also a former Pepper Hamilton lawyer and said that he and Giles became partners at the firm on the same day.
The value of hiring a former federal judge, and especially a former chief judge, lies in the prestige it brings to the firm, Coleman said, and in the base of knowledge it adds to the litigation department.
Coleman said he expects Giles to build a significant mediation practice and to play a key role in the firm as a mentor and behind-the-scenes adviser, helping litigators in areas like strategy, jury selection and understanding the judges they appear before.
