myCILEx
The CILEx Judicial Development Programme: our first judicial awareness day!
CILEx hosted the inaugural judicial awareness day, in September, for members interested in pursuing a career in the judiciary. Louise Turner describes the event.
About the author
Louise Turner is CILEx’s membership manager.
On 7 September 2017, CILEx Members and personnel, including CEO Linda Ford, President Millicent Grant, Vice-President Philip Sherwood, and Council Member Allison Thompson, together with representatives from the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), the Judicial Office (JO) and members of the judiciary, attended our CILEx Judicial Awareness Day at Friends House, Euston, in London.
Members in attendance were those with an interest in finding out more about a career in the judiciary, and we saw repeat attendance from members who had attended our launch event of the CILEx Judicial Development Programme, hosted in Bristol, in June 2017.*
The day was made up of three training workshops. The first led by Lori Frecker, head of equality and diversity at the JAC. Lori carefully guided members through the JAC selection process for judicial appointment, giving pointers on what skills and qualities the selection panel were looking for in candidates, and how members could evidence their skills and qualities to the required standard and in reference to the competency framework adopted by the JAC, against which all candidates are assessed. (See also page 44 of this issue.)
Workshop two was led by HHJ Mark Horton, who is a Resident Judge in Bristol. His Judicial Taster Course gave members valuable insights into how thinking like a judge is a skill CILEx members possess naturally, even if they did not realise this. Members quickly reached sensible and common sense solutions when dealing with the courtroom scenarios posed by HHJ Horton, and it soon became apparent to all in the room that CILEx members have the skills required to be a judge: they simply need to allow their years of on-the-job experience and people skills to guide their decision-making.
HHJ Horton encouraged members to be determined when applying for judicial appointment. It may not happen straightaway and, in fact, he was only successful in applying for judicial appointment himself on the fifth attempt. But did that deter him? No, of course not!
The final workshop of the day was delivered by Manjula Bray, who delivers bespoke training courses for individuals across the professions seeking judicial appointment. Manjula taught members how to adopt the ‘Situation, Objective, Action and Result’ (SOAR) technique.
The SOAR technique will help members to answer the five JAC competencies, and Manjula encouraged them to keep a ‘brag’ file recording all their proud moments and using the ‘hero’s journey’ narrative to illustrate how examples of their work make them shine in the judicial application process.
Having experienced the day for themselves, the JAC and the JO gave high praise to the development of the CILEx Judicial Awareness Day.
We encourage those members with a career in the judiciary in their sights to register their interest in the CILEx Judicial Development Programme, which shall be rolled out in December 2017, by e-mailing : beajudge@cilex.org.uk
CILEx is planning to host a further CILEx Judicial Awareness Day in Leeds in late November 2017.
If you would like to register your interest in attending this event, please e-mail : beajudge@cilex.org.uk, with ‘Leeds Event’ in the subject line.
* Visit: http://tinyurl.com/y7heooj6
CASE STUDY OF A CILEx JUDGE
Stephen Gowland, a Police Officer Misconduct Hearing Panel Chair, writes:
When I first embarked upon my career as a lawyer, I - like many others starting out - had no idea where my career would lead me and what opportunities I would have. I started out as an apprentice working and studying for my first then ILEX examinations by way of day release. Back then, I could never have imagined that I would one day run my own firm, become CILEx president or, indeed, become a tribunal judge.
Over the years, I have applied for three positions: as a deputy district judge; to sit on the social entitlement tribunal; and to the police officer misconduct hearing panel. I was unsuccessful in the first two applications despite reaching the final stage of selection, but I did not let this deter me from applying again and obtaining my current role.
Competition for judicial positions is fierce, and the best way to achieve a position is to be prepared. The first thing I would advise members to do is to prepare their application form, even if there isn’t currently a role available. Visit the Judicial Appointment Commission’s website, and look at the skills and abilities that are required.
Start putting together examples for your application form, and keep updating it with any new relevant experience: in that way, when a position is advertised, you will be ready to apply and can spend time honing your application rather than starting from scratch.
You do, however, have to be honest with yourself about your abilities, and try to determine where there are any gaps and what you can do to fill them. Obviously, a lot of the skills and abilities you have will be those gained as a lawyer dealing with cases or scenarios; however, in my opinion, it is important to have other things outside of the law that you can refer to.
‘Other experience’ can prove elusive for some, but if you look carefully enough, there is always something you can draw upon. By way of example, I used my experience of sitting on CILEx council and on the local branch committee to show team work and an ability to make decisions. I have also spent time as a school governor and chaired local business networking groups.
So, think about what you have been involved in over the years, draw upon that interest, commitment, energy and passion, and use it to demonstrate how you have gained the necessary skills that you can now channel into a judicial position.
Once you have your skills and abilities on paper and are happy with them, the next thing to do is organise some judicial shadowing. It really doesn’t matter if the shadowing you do is with a judge who sits in an entirely different area to that in which you are interested: the skills required are similar across the board. If you are unable to secure some shadowing then, at the very minimum, speak to your local judges. Most of them are very happy to help aspiring judges and talk about their own experiences.
The next thing I did was to look for anything else that could help give me an edge. I attended a very useful one-day course, which covered the application and interview process. This was run by Manjula Bray who is now working with CILEx on their Judicial Development Programme.
If you are potentially interested in becoming a judge now or in the future I would encourage you to attend the CILEx Judicial Awareness Days and register to take part in the CILEx Judicial Development Programme.
The day of the interview itself is, inevitably, very stressful as it all rests on how you perform on that one day.
I made sure that I had re-read everything, and had some prepared answers ready for certain questions. It was third time lucky for me, but ultimately the preparation, and also the experience of the two failed applications, was what got me through.
- In summary, for any CILEx members thinking of applying for a judicial role:
- Critically analyse your skills and abilities, and get them down on paper.
- Fill any gaps that you identify in those skills and abilities.
- Go to one of the CILEx Judicial Awareness Days and take part in the CILEx Judicial Development Programme.
- Shadow and speak to judges.
- Get any additional help and assistance that you think you require.
- Most of all, have confidence in yourself.
Getting the position, in my experience, is much more difficult than doing the job itself.