Module 7

Your path to the bench: routes in, selection, preparation, the career and whether it suits you

Becoming a judge is among the most selective moves in law, and the route is the most different between countries. In some, a bright graduate can enter the judiciary within a few years of finishing university, through a competition and a judicial school. In others, no one is considered until after fifteen or twenty years of practice, and appointment follows a public application and interview. In some places judges are elected; in others many of those who judge are lay people. This module lays out the routes, what selection looks for, how to prepare, what the career is like after appointment and the honest trade-offs. It ends with the Role Explorer, which compares judging with other roles by how you like to work. It is not personal career advice, and the route in your country will be set by its constitution, its judicial authority and its own rules.

General education on the work of a judge across legal systems, using invented people, courts and cases. It is not legal or career advice. Judicial procedure, codes of conduct, standards of proof and routes to the bench differ between countries and change: check the rules that apply to you with the judicial authority and the profession.