what is a judge like as a person

[theoldgirl]

Anyone know any judges? I'm wondering what their personality types are? Are they status driven and arrogant? Or sincere social activists? How do you get to be a district or county or high court judge? How do you get to be a barrister?

A stipendiary magistrate is legally qualified, sits alone and is paid a salary (or stipend, I guess).

Interesting. I'll have to look into that, thankyou. I did wills and probate, if you ever get too much work...

I really hope that one day I do have too much work so far as my freelance willwriting is concerned. I absolutely love doing it, it's much better than my day job but I only started it in May so is only just getting off the ground.

One day I'll do enough willwriting to be able to ditch the dayjob, and I'll give you a call

I'm writing childrens books at the moment, I've just left a course in radiography because of the MS so am looking at my options. I need to work though, I can't stand doing nothing.

The research is looking very, very interesting. I can't find how to apply though. Is it the same process as a normal magistrate?

I haven't a clue tbh. Was it on the Court Service webby?

Nope, just normal unqualified mag.

Aaah, I'm years out of date. They're not called stipendiary mags any more, but District Judges in the mags court. You need seven years experience as a solicitor or barrister and two years experience as a deputy DJ.

That's from the court service website btw.

Looks like lay magistrate may be your best option in that case.

I can do that and write childrens books

Yes, you can!

I have found details of the training teams though. No harm in asking

I'm going to have to go, my eyes are too sore now. You have been really, really helpful, thankyou

Sincerest appologies for borrowing the thread, it's not theft, you got it back

Nighty night.

"Ive been looking into this and CPS jobs for years "

Arf arf ! There aren't too many of them going round any more

Oh and Belle, would ILEX be any use to you ? They are really opening up the opportunities for legal execs, might be worth a look ?
I've just done an police ILEX course in "criminal justice administration" and found it quite good, was looking into doing the full ilex qualification with a view to going into CPS as an associate prosecutor but all funding and recruitment has now dried up :(
Law is becoming an almost impossible field to get a foothold in

Hi, I'm the OP. I asked the original question because I've been (reluctantly) representing myself in the family courts for several years as don't get Legal Aid, can't afford legals (has cost me £3 to £5k for a barrister for a one day hearing to decide contact). It's hard to communicate with a judge -I seemed to be pre-judged as 'hostile' by default cos of being the parent with custody, and my ex as saint dad cos he had contact. Whatever he (his barrister actually) alleges is believed without investigation or proof, and whatever i say falls on deaf ears. Latest judge's judgement shocked me to the core: I am the devil incarnate apparently. It seems that no matter what evidence I've subssequently produced to disprove this, judge's view will not change. Obviously didn't help that Cafcass also told her I was devil incarnate. There's so much evidence that supports me as good and him as the problem, but its amazing how it gets ignored or he get's excused. A top London solicitor did tell me that judges at the moment are very down on mothers who are accused of thwarting contact. Such as shame they don't bother to check their facts before condemning. It would seem all mothers are bad and dispensible and all dad's are crucial to a child's emotional well-being

Sorry, OP, we've gone off on a massive tangent.

Re. your problem, I think the first step for you would be to get hold of the Judgement (if you're talking about a final hearing - there won't be one if you're not at that stage yet), as the Judgement helps you see exactly why the Judge found against you.

If in fact you haven't had a final hearing yet the all is not lost, but you need to focus on the cafcass report and if you feel that it is biased against you, you need to show the judge in what way, and why the cafcass report should therefore be disregarded (it would have to be exceptionally wrong, as I'm sure you realise, the court relies heavily on the cafcass report when reaching a decision).

You say that a "top London Solicitor" told you that Judges are down on custodial parents. The court want to see every child have contact with the father, so long as that is in the child's best interests.

I recently did a case where we had contact suspended for several years, after which it will be reviewed, but that was a very exceptional case of behaviour verging on physical abuse, and unless your ex's behaviour is similar extreme, you may have to accept that contact will (and should) take place.

Obviously you won't want to post details on this forum (and you mustn't, the proceedings are private), but it may be worth your while taking the most important papers you have (the court orders, Cafcass reports and statements) to another family lawyer for a second opinion. Ask them to be brutally honest about your chances and if they are pessimistic, then it may actually be better for your child to work with the court to let contact happen in a controlled and safe manner.

I don't know any of the details of the case, so forgive me if I've misread the situ.

Very interesting thread and I agree with Mumblechum's last post.

I find it hard to believe that the cafcass would actually say you were the devil incarnate

Belle agree with Fibilou, it is worth you considering the ILEX route. I know many lawyers who have done this and have then gone on to qualify as Solicitors although to be honest, with all the recent changes there really is no need now as Fellows of Institute can become partners and even Judges now.

The Judge conversations are interesting. I became able to qualify to go down this route a few years ago and every so often DH keeps prompting me to think about it. Don't think its for me though although I have recently thought about doing shadowing.

The DJs I used to appear before were a mixed bag. There were a few old dinosaurs but also some younger ones. Out of the say 6 DJs I regularly appeared before 2 were women but of course it does vary from Court to Court. There was one DJ in particular that I really respected as he had always read the papers and was extremely fair so you always knew where yo were with him.

Ilex hey, interesting. Costs cash though. There's been no law jobs here for years! Why do you think I ended up training in something else?

I qualified through Ilex. It was deadly dull tbh, all distance learning with no lectures, but am v glad I did it, as I left school at 16 to work in a factory & Ilex made all the difference to my employablity.

Well done! I had ds, his father left, I started working in a pub and I just thought sod it and talked my way onto the course, I just wanted to build a better life for ds and I. Things didn't go to plan, within months the pub slashed my hours because I needed to take time off with ds as he had D&V (there was no one else). Ds always comes first, I walked and took them to a tribunal. The law degree was the best thing I ever did, I don't regret it at all, I just wish that life itself had been easier, I didn't want a 3rd.

mumblechum snap We did it the hard way. I really envy DC1 who wants to go into law and who is applying for Oxbridge in October. Very he is having the chances I didn't have.
He has however assured me he will become a top QC and will look after me in my old age ensuring that I don't live on cat food

belle you have done very well under the circs. It is very hard. I remember struggling to fit in my studies around full time job when DC1 and 2 were very young. It isn't easy so well done to you for what you have achieved.

Thankyou, it's so frustrating though, there's no law jobs here, I'd have no chance with a 3rd. I'd quite like to do medical negligence, I've worked in the NHS (sort of) for 5 years now and have seen the care and treatment that patients recieve, why it happens and the effects that it has on their lives. It's grim, someone needs to be on their side though.

I hope it's alot easier for ds to get to where he wants to go, my school was dire, out of all the year 2 people got to university, someone else and me, purly because I walked out and went to a different school, I'd left it a bit late though but it could have been far worse. Ds starts a top private secondary in September (I'll be surviving on beans on toast), he's a very bright boy, I want to give him the chance to do well.

Having sadi how grim the NHS is, one of my GP's has just called to see how I am feeling, lovely lady. There's some good people there (not everwhere though sadly)