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24 March 2012 / Alexandra Marks
Issue: 7506 / Categories: Opinion , Training & education , Profession
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You be the judge

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Alexandra Marks provides inspiration & advice for would-be judges

It’s a myth that commercial solicitors cannot become judges. As a commercial property lawyer, I’d never undertaken any contentious work, nor been in a court room as a qualified lawyer, yet I successfully applied to become a recorder in crime.

The skills you gain as a practising solicitor, and their transferability, counts for much more than your area of professional practice. I am very keen on myth-busting and, as a Judcial Appointments Commission (JAC) commissioner, hope to do lots of it.

Acquiring experience

Knowing it is possible to become a judge enables you to start acquiring the experience you need. It is challenging for those who are neither advocates nor litigators to provide convincing evidence of their judicial qualities and abilities but there are numerous ways in which you can develop the necessary experience. For instance, I was chair of the executive board of Justice, so I was able to draw on specific examples from that role to demonstrate that I possessed

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