“There isn’t a ‘typical’ judge”: my journey from legal aid solicitor to judge

I always knew I wanted to be a solicitor. It seemed to be a profession that focused on helping other people, which aligned with my personal and religious ethics.

Becoming a solicitor seemed an ideal way for me to do both. However, the task was not an easy one.

I had no connections to law, no relatives or friends in the profession. My parents were not working when I was growing up and I lived in a deprived area of Doncaster.

I came from an ethnic minority background, and I didn’t know of people from my community having a career in law when I was growing up.

Despite this, I worked hard at school with the aim of studying law at university. I achieved the grades I needed and attended the University of Sheffield.

I lived at home to save on costs, but still had to work part-time throughout my degree to make ends meet.

I would not recommend this – I struggled to keep up with my studies and had no time to obtain any relevant work experience. It was a big disadvantage when I was applying for training contracts.

In one interview in Doncaster, I was asked, “What does your dad do?” I thought, “What has that got to do with me being here to do this job?”

I didn’t get the job, but the experience put me off working for a firm whose partners carried that attitude anyway. I carried on applying and was successful at a local legal aid firm.

I didn’t apply to any City firms because I just didn't think they'd take on someone from my background.

I set my sights low and only applied to smaller, local firms. I just didn’t think I would fit in in a large corporate firm, given my ethnic and socioeconomic background.

I would say that things have definitely changed now and firms (including the larger ones) are much more appreciative of the diverse backgrounds of applicants.

Applying for the judiciary

Applying for the judiciary was a completely different experience.

It wasn’t just that attitudes had moved on with the times, I felt that the judicial application process was a much fairer one.

The process made you feel like you weren’t being judged for who you were or where you came from – but solely on the skills you possessed and what you could bring to the judiciary.

I felt more confident by the time I was applying in 2014, given my length of experience as an employment lawyer.

I had shed some of the personal self-doubt I held about what I was able to do.

However, that was not enough to be successful in my application. I realised they weren’t just looking for someone who knew the law.

The skills and competencies they were asking for were much wider. It was clear they needed to test your ability to handle the variety of situations that may arise in the court room completely unrelated to your legal knowledge.

I wasn’t successful in my first application but that is not uncommon. Most people who apply don’t get a role the first time.

I wasn’t put off and instead spent the time building up my experience so that I was ready to apply when the next round came up.

I did contemplate other judicial roles. But looking back, I am glad I persevered with the employment judge role.

I don’t think I would have enjoyed learning a completely new area of law as well as learning how to be a judge.

I would advise people to think carefully about the role they apply for. You need to be interested in and enjoy it as you may be in it for a long time.

The Judicial Appointments Commission finally advertised some employment judge roles in around 2021 and, by then, I was ready to apply.

Over the intervening years I’d sought to improve my own skills and experience to give me the best chance possible of becoming an employment judge.

I found the Pre-Application Judicial Education programme (PAJE), which had been advertised by the Law Society, a real godsend. 

It is a joint initiative of the cross-industry Judicial Diversity Forum, which is made up of the Judiciary, Ministry of Justice, Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), the Bar Council, the Law Society of England and Wales and the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives.

PAJE resources provide support for anyone becoming a judge, but they’re particularly aimed at people who are under-represented in the judiciary.

We heard from a lot of judges who had come from different backgrounds and had completed the process. They helped me workshop my application and my competencies. 

I took on other roles to widen my experience beyond my day-to-day work.

I sat on school appeal panels, I was a visiting lecturer at the University of Law, and I was a disability-qualified member on social security tribunal panels. I was a member of the Law Society’s Employment Law Committee.

Each of these gave me some great examples to draw on in my interview and application. It showed me that the JAC realised the value of the things we can do outside of work.

Before applying I had thought that the process would be more favoured to barristers than solicitors, but I was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case at all.

The application allowed freedom to draw upon examples from lots of different areas – not just court appearances.

Further, some of the competencies – such as those about decision making – are probably easier for a solicitor to evidence. We are making decisions about our cases every day, even if it’s not in a court room.

Life as a judge

I was successful in that application and was appointed in 2023. I can honestly say I would never go back. It has been the most rewarding thing I have done in my career.

It was a steep learning curve. Being thrown straight into a salaried role meant I built up a bank of experience in a matter of months. I was appointed in London and was given a wide variety of cases to hear.

I was lucky to be surrounded by lots of very experienced judges who were always willing to provide me with support or a friendly ear. The collegiate atmosphere was extremely welcoming.

Life as a judge is certainly different from being a solicitor. The role is very intense – you are under a great deal of scrutiny and pressure – but a good work-life balance and support network helps ensure you don’t burn out.

Your free time is respected – I am hardly ever contacted when I am not working.

Although you sometimes have work to do on the evenings or weekends (such as preparation or reading for a case), life is very different from a role in practice – where you might regularly have to work until late at night and be bombarded with calls or emails when away from work.

I’ve had time for new hobbies. I have learned to swim and sing, climbed the Yorkshire Three Peaks, joined a quiz team and even dabbled in Dungeons and Dragons (yes, I am a massive geek!).

I find that it is important for your own mental health to have people to talk to on a social level outside of work.

One of the few downsides to the role is that I interact with far fewer people during the working day.

It is very different to when I was in practice and speaking to teams of colleagues every day.

Making a difference

I’d like to try and encourage people to apply for a role.

Don’t be put off, if, like me, you ever think you don’t fit the mould of what a judge should look like.

Hopefully I have explained that there isn’t a ‘typical’ judge and that the judiciary welcomes people from all backgrounds.

I can definitely see the look of relief on people’s faces when they walk into the hearing room and see someone who looks like them sitting behind the bench.

Obviously, we deal with each case based on its merits, regardless of who is bringing it, but it’s good to know that you are helping with people’s perceptions of the fairness of the judiciary as a whole – just by changing how it looks.