Senior Judge Law and Legal Definition
A senior judge refers to a judge who has served for the longest time on a given court or a federal or state judge who qualifies for senior status and chooses this status over retirement.
A senior judge status is a form of semi retirement for U.S federal court judges. On attaining the age of 65 and 15 years of judicial experience, in the federal courts, the federal court judges are given the senior status. A senior judge retains the judicial office and works only part time with full salary of a federal judge. A senior judge can reduce their workload to 75 percent. However a senior judge can opt to keep a heavy caseload to maintain an office with a secretary and two or more clerks. The designation of senor status helps to create vacancy among court's active judges.
