Judicial Assistants
The judicial assistant scheme
Fully effective advance preparation of cases can only take place if the parties are limited to their submissions as set out in writing, and are required to place all materials before the court very well in advance of a hearing. The English belief in the paramountcy of oral argument, and the wish to leave no argument unput, prevents that being achieved in this or any other English court. The judicial assistants have to adapt their work to those particular conditions in which the court operates, which are different from those obtaining in any other common law appellate court, and mean that the assistants' work is significantly different from that of law clerks in other jurisdictions. That said, the assistants give invaluable help to members of the court by clarifying issues in advance; sorting out the shape and nature of the appeal in the less well-presented cases; and undertaking specific items of research. The current annual cost of the scheme is the modest sum, in the context of the overall cost of the court and its ancillary services, of £202,000, and the court considers that it and those who use its services obtain very good value for that amount.
The budget provides for ten assistants at any one time. Most of them are unfortunately able to serve for one term only, as they are high-achieving young lawyers at the start of their careers who can only be spared from that career for a limited period. It is necessary to be very selective in recruitment. The job is extremely challenging, requiring the assistants to engage on equal terms with the Lords Justices and to adapt immediately to the court and its procedures and practices. We are fortunate to have been able to fill almost all of our places with people of the required calibre, but a disappointment continues to be the reluctance of the bar to participate in the scheme. Quite apart from the interests of the court, a period as a judicial assistant offers so much to the candidate, and would offer so much to his or her chambers, in terms of depth of understanding both of the law and of the appellate process. It would be greatly to the benefit of the legal system as a whole if more barristers had the benefit of that experience.
Lord Justice Buxton
Next Recruitment Campaign
The next recruitment campaign will commence on 19 May 2008, when the post will be advertised in the Job Vacancies section on this website, as well as in The Times and in the Law Society Gazette. The period of service will cover the Michaelmas 2008 and Hilary 2009 terms, from 30 September 2008 to 8 April 2009.
Articles by former Judicial Assistants
Blazing a trail in London ( 232.807Kb)
Article by a former Judicial Assistant, now a lawyer in the Civil Appeals Office, on his experience as a United States lawyer working in the Office.
The Appeal of Assistants ( 21.284Kb)
An article by Greg Fullelove
An experience not to be missed ( 17.725Kb)
An article by Tajinder Malhi
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