UNDERSTANDING JUDGING:
ROLES, SKILLS & CHALLENGES
28-29 June 2014
PROGRAMME
UCL JUDICIAL INSTITUTE
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Understanding Judging: Roles, Skills and Challenges
UCL Judicial Institute
Faculty of Laws, Bentham House, London WC1H 0EG
28-29 June 2014
This is the first and only course available in the UK that offers practitioners the opportunity to gain a
greater understanding of what it means to be a judge.
Who is this course for?
This course is intended for practitioners who currently do not hold a judicial post but who may be
interested in taking on a fee-paid or salaried judicial appointment in the courts and tribunals in
the future. The course is open to all solicitors, barristers, CILEx members, employed lawyers and
academics.
Please note that this is not a course that helps practitioners fill in an application form for a judicial
appointment or a course that provides practice examinations.
What will I gain from taking this course?
This course examines the range of judicial roles that can be applied for, the generic skills and qualities needed to be a judge, the key differences between being in legal practice and being a judge,
and the challenges practitioners face when moving from practice into a judicial post. It is designed
to enable practitioners interested in applying for a judicial post to answer two key questions:
• Is a judicial post right for me?
• What is the most appropriate judicial post for me to apply for?
The course will cover:
• Judicial Skills and Competences
• Writing & Delivering Decisions
• Organisation of the Judiciary
• Role & Reality of Judging
• Judicial Ethics: Crossing the Divide from Practice
• Applying for a Judicial Appointment
Topics are taught using a variety of learning approaches:
• Hands-on judicial decision-making sessions
• Small group working
• Panel discussion with experienced judges
• Advance readings
Personnel and Course Structure
• The course is taught only by highly experienced judicial trainers
• One and a half-day weekend course
• Venue: UCL Judicial Institute, Faculty of Laws, University College London (UCL)
Certificate in Judicial Studies
Participants who successfully complete the course are awarded a Certificate in Judicial Studies from
the UCL Judicial Institute.
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UNDERSTANDING JUDGING:
COURSE CONTENT, AIMS & LEARNING OUTCOMES
The Organisation of the Judiciary
Participants will acquire knowledge of jurisdictions and functions of the judiciary in different types
of courts and tribunals.
The Role & Reality of Judging
Participants will gain an understanding of the roles and challenges in performing the judicial role
in different courts and tribunals. This is designed to help participants answer the crucial question:
What type of judicial role is right for me?
Judicial Skills and Competences
Participants will gain an understanding of what are regarded as generic judicial skills and qualities.
Drawing on expert judicial research materials developed by the UCL Judicial Institute and guided
by highly experience judicial trainers, participants will take part in hands-on judicial decisionmaking sessions that develop:
• Knowledge of legal principles
• Ability to acquire new knowledge and apply it to novel circumstances
• Analytical ability
• Authority and control of proceedings
• Communication skills
• Essential requisites of fair hearings
• Attentiveness to needs of different kinds of court users
• Questioning skills
• Listening skills
• Note taking
• Structured approach to decision-making (fact-finding, assessing credibility, decision writing)
Judicial Ethics
Participants will gain an appreciation of judicial ethics and the need to act in a way that always
contributes to public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. Participants will
have the opportunity to explore scenarios presenting ethical challenges for judges, including:
• Making the transition from practice to bench
• Conflicts of interest
• Propriety
• Independence
• Competence
Applying for a Judicial Appointment
The course will examine key points for those considering applying for a judicial post:
• Am I qualified to apply?
• Understanding what type of judicial post is best suited to you
• Gaining relevant experience before applying
• How to demonstrate competencies
• What the process involves: formal application, examination process, role plays, interview
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PROGRAMME SUMMARY
__________________________________________________________________________________
DAY 1:
SATURDAY 28 JUNE
__________________________________________________________________________________
09:00 – 9:30
Registration
Cissy Chu Common Room (Endsleigh Street Entrance)
9:30– 9:45
Welcome and Plenary
Denys Holland Lecture Theatre
UCL Judicial Institute Directors:
Professor Dame Hazel Genn
Professor Cheryl Thomas
9:45 – 10:15
Understanding the Judiciary
Professor Dame Hazel Genn
Professor Cheryl Thomas
10:15 – 12:45
Small Group Session 1: Judicial Skills & Competences
Seminar Rooms 5, 7, 8 & 9
Stage 1: Pre-hearing Review
Stage 2: Oral Hearing
Stage 3: Panel Deliberations
Course Instructors: Godfrey Cole, Yvette Genn, Mary Holmes, Stuart Vernon
12:45 – 13:45
Lunch
14:00 – 15:45
Small Group Session 2: Judicial Skills & Competences
Seminar Rooms 5, 7, 8 & 9
Stage 4: Decision-Writing
Course Instructors: Godfrey Cole, Yvette Genn, Mary Holmes, Stuart Vernon
16:00 – 17:30
Panel Discussion with Judges on Role & Reality of Judging
Denys Holland Lecture Theatre
Her Honour Judge Jacqueline Beech, Circuit Judge (Preston Combined
Court Centre)
Judge Mark Hinchliffe, Deputy President, Health, Education & Social Care Chamber (First Tier Tribunal)
Judge Tan Ikram, District Judge (Magistrates’ Court)
Panel Chair: Stuart Vernon
17:30 - 18:30
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Drinks reception
Cissy Chu Common Room
__________________________________________________________________________________
DAY 2:
SUNDAY 29 JUNE
__________________________________________________________________________________
9:00 – 9:15
Coffee
Cissy Chu Common Room
9:15 – 11:45
Small Group Session 3: Delivering a Decision
Seminar Room 5, 7, 8 & 9
Course Instructors: Godfrey Cole, Yvette Genn, Mary Holmes, Stuart Vernon
12:00 – 12:30
Ethical Dilemmas
(interactive, full group session)
Denys Holland Lecture Theatre
Session leaders: Professor Cheryl Thomas and Professor Dame Hazel Genn
12:30 – 12:45
Q & A on Applying for a Judicial Appointment
(interactive, full group session)
Denys Holland Lecture Theatre
Session leader: The Hon Mr Justice David Bean, High Court (Queen’s Bench Division) and Judicial Appointments Commissioner (2010-14)
12:45 – 13:00
Presentation of Certificates and Feedback
13:00
Lunch
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COURSE CONVENORS
Professor Dame Hazel Genn is Dean of UCL Faculty of Laws and Co-director of the UCL Judicial Institute.
She worked with the Judicial Studies Board (now the Judicial College) for 12 years, serving as a member of
the Main Board and the Tribunals Committee, and contributing to the design and delivery of training for
the judiciary at all levels. She has undertaken a number of judicial training needs analyses in England and
Scotland and was closely involved in developing the JSB’s framework of judicial qualities and abilities. She
served as a lay Commissioner on the Judicial Appointments Commission from 2006 to 2012, was a member
of the Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity 2009-10 and a member of the Committee on Standards in Public
Life 2003-7.
Professor Cheryl Thomas is Professor of Judicial Studies, Director of the UCL Jury Project and Co-Director
of the UCL Judicial Institute. A specialist in judicial studies, she has conducted ground-breaking research on
juries, judicial decision-making, the role of diversity in the justice system, and the appointment and training
of judges. She has served as a specialist consultant on judicial affairs to the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Panel
on Judicial Diversity, Judicial Studies Board (now the Judicial College), former Commission for Judicial Appointments, Law Commission, Lord Chancellor, Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, the European
Commission, Council of Europe and a number of overseas governments. She currently serves on the EU Steering Committee for the Project on European Judicial Training.
COURSE INSTRUCTORS
Godfrey Cole was an academic from 1971-1992, mostly at the University of Westminster where he was Dean of
the Law School and he lectured on subjects including Housing Law, Law of Landlord and Tenant, Family Law,
and Social Security Law. In 1992 he took up a full-time judicial appointment as a District Tribunal Judge, and
subsequently sat as a Deputy District Judge and in the Upper Tribunal. From 1999-2008 he was seconded to
the Judicial Studies Board as Director of Training for Tribunals where he developed standards that now apply
across UK tribunals, as well as training courses for court and tribunal judges with management responsibilities.
He was the editor of the Tribunals journal until the end of 2009, and he has published frequently as an
academic and as a judge.
Yvette Genn is a barrister at Cloisters, specialising in employment law (with particular emphasis on discrimination and equal pay) and personal injury law. Yvette sits as a Recorder in Civil and Private Law Family matters on the
Midland Circuit, and as a Deputy District Judge on the South Eastern Circuit, and previously served as part-time
judge in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SEND). She maintains a busy court based practice
alongside her training work with practitioners and judges. She was a member of the JSB’s Equal Treatment Advisory Committee from 1999-2008 designing and delivering diversity training to judges, and continues to provide
diversity and judicial standards training, as well .as equalities training to a range of public bodies. She also regularly contributes to the training of European Judges in equality law at the Academy of European Law in Trier.
Mary Holmes was the Senior Training Adviser to the Judicial Studies Board (JSB, now the Judicial College)
and Head of Tribunal Training between 2002 and 2007. Mary joined the Judicial Studies Board having been
an academic with an interest in administrative justice for a number of years. She was closely involved in
the development of the Judicial Studies Board mentoring, training standards, appraisal and evaluation
frameworks and training handbooks. As Senior Training Adviser to the Judicial Studies Board, Mary gave
advice and guidance to the Civil, Family and Equal Treatment Committees in respect of the induction and
continuation training for judges. She was formerly a tribunal member and currently sits as a magistrate.
Stuart Vernon has taken a leading role in writing and producing judicial training materials and has been
involved with tribunal skills training for a number of years. He was involved in the development of the
Judicial Studies Board’s tribunal competence framework, and is currently developing bespoke training
courses for tribunals and other institutions. Stuart was until recently the Chief Adjudicator at the Office of
Fair Trading (OFT). He taught at the University of East London, where he researched and published in the
fields of social work law and youth justice. Stuart sat as a magistrate in west London for 15 years and was
also a lay member of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal.
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JUDICIAL GUESTS
The Hon Mr Justice David Bean, High Court (QBD), former Judicial Appointments Commissioner
David Bean was called to the Bar in 1976 and appointed an Assistant Recorder in 1992, Recorder in 1996
and QC in 1997. He was Chairman of the Bar Council in 2002. Since 2004 he has been a High Court judge
sitting in the Queen’s Bench Division and dealing with a wide variety of work including Crown Court trials
(especially for murder), criminal appeals, employment appeals, judicial review, personal injury and
defamation cases. He was a Presiding Judge of the South Eastern Circuit from 2007 to 2010 and from
November 2010 to March 2014 he was one of three members of the Judicial Appointments Commission
appointed on the nomination of the Judges’ Council. He has been a member of panels selecting Circuit
judges and High Court judges.
Her Honour Judge Jacqueline Beech, Preston Combined Court Centre
Jacqueline Beech was called to the Bar in 1981, specialising in personal injury and clinical negligence
litigation and commercial road transport regulation. She was appointed Chairman of the Transport Tribunal
in 2000 (a part time appointment) and was appointed as a Recorder in 2002, sitting in crime and civil. She
has been a Circuit Judge since 2007, sitting at Snaresbrook Crown Court and Central London Civil Justice
Centre. In 2012 she transferred to Preston Combined Court Centre sitting principally in crime. She
continues to sit in civil and is an Upper Tribunal Judge, in the Administrative Appeals Chamber, hearing
appeals concerning commercial road transport regulation. She was a member of the Bar Council Disability
Committee between 1999 and 2007 and is now a Diversity and Community Relations Judge.
Judge Mark Hinchliffe, Deputy President, Health, Education and Social Care Chamber
Mark Hinchliffe qualified as a solicitor in 1979 and remained in private practice until concentrating on judicial
work. He was appointed as an Immigration Adjudicator in 1990 and then acquired a number of part-time judicial
appointments including Parking Adjudicator, Deputy Coroner, Special Educational Needs Tribunal, and Deputy
Traffic Commissioner. In 2008 Mark succeeded Godfrey Cole as Tribunals Training Director at the Judicial Studies
Board (now Judicial College), and in October 2009 he was appointed as full-time Deputy Chamber President of the
Health, Education and Social Care Chamber in the First-tier Tribunal, with day to day responsibility for the mental
health jurisdiction (he also sits in the Upper Tribunal dealing with transport appeals).
Judge Tan Ikram, District Judge (MC), Deputy Lead Diversity and Community Relations Judge
Tan Ikram was called to the Bar in 1990 and admitted as a solicitor in 1993. He was head of department and equity
partner in a 30 partner firm, and specialised in criminal defence and prosecution work. Whilst in practice he was at
various times a Legal Chairman of PMETB, a Legal Assessor to the Nursing and Midwifery Council and a Parking
Adjudicator. He was appointed Deputy District judge (MC) in 2003 and a full time judge in 2009. He now holds
extradition, crime and family law tickets. As the Deputy Lead Diversity and Community Relations Judge, he supports
the Lead Judge in projects engaging with the community and promoting diversity on the bench and is also a tutor at
the Judicial College. He is a contributing editor to Archbold Magistrates’ Courts Criminal Practice 2014.
COURSE ADMINISTRATOR
Maria Diaz, Judicial Institute Manager
Maria Diaz is the Manager of the UCL Judicial Institute and is responsible for the overall running of the
Understanding Judging course. Maria joined the UCL Judicial Institute in 2013 following a 10-year career in
the civil service, working in the courts and judiciary. She joined the Lord Chancellors Department in 2003
working at the office of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) as a pre-trial clerk. In 2006 she joined the Court
Service in the Listings and Jury Bailiffs department at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey). In 2008 she
became a Court Clerk and then the Jury Manager of the Old Bailey, also serving on the Jury Manager’s
Advisory Group (JMAG) for England and Wales.
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Increasing Diversity Bursaries
The UCL Judicial Institute has established an Increasing Diversity Bursary Scheme in which a
minimum of 25% of course participants who (1) would have difficulty paying the course fee and (2)
meet the bursary’s diversity criteria will have their full course fees covered. This Bursary Scheme
reflects the UCL Judicial Institute’s commitment to implementing a key recommendation (no.16)
of the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity (Neuberger Panel). Recommendation
16 addressed what the Neuberger Panel saw as the need for lawyers to get the right experience for
judicial office before they apply. It specifically recommended that courses should be developed to
help aspiring judicial candidates from groups currently under-represented within the judiciary to
develop the skills they need for judicial appointment before they apply for a judicial post.
The Ministry of Justice, Society of Legal Scholars, Law Society, and CILEx have all very
generously funded increasing Diversity Bursaries for the UCL Judicial Institute’s Understanding
Judging course in recognition of the importance of implementing the Neuberger Panel’s
recommendation.
About the UCL Judicial Institute
The UCL Judicial Institute is the first and only centre of excellence for
research and teaching about the judiciary in the UK. The Institute’s
purpose is to provide evidence-based understanding and intellectual
leadership about the judiciary as a critical social institution and the
about the process of judicial decision-making. The Institute carries
out cutting-edge research on the judiciary and provides outstanding
educational opportunities for students, practitioners, judges and those performing quasi-judicial
roles. The Judicial Institute is led by co-directors Professor Dame Hazel Genn and Professor Cheryl
Thomas and guided by an Advisory Board of distinguished jurists and scholars from both the
United Kingdom and abroad.
For further information on the Institute please see: www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/judicial-institute
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TRAVELLING TO UCL
London is well served by transport links. Getting around the city is easy, as is travelling to and from
London from the UK, Europe and the wider world, and for getting around the city. UCL is located in
the Bloomsbury district at the very centre of London.
Travelling to UCL
There are easy connections to UCL from London’s global hub airports at Heathrow, Gatwick and
Stansted and you will find that London’s extensive public transport system is convenient and easy
to use.
To plan your journey to UCL, including walking and cycle routes, visit the Transport for London (TfL)
website. National Rail Enquiries can be contacted on 08457 484950 or at www.nationalrail.co.uk.
London Underground (Tube)
The closest tube stations to UCL’s Gower Street site are Euston Square (Hammersmith and City,
Metropolitan and Circle lines), Warren Street (Northern and Victoria lines), Euston (Northern, Victoria
and Overground lines) and Russell Square (Piccadilly line).
Buses
UCL’s Bloomsbury site is served by many TfL bus routes. Buses travelling from north to south stop in
Gower Street, immediately outside UCL’s main gate, while those travelling from south to north stop
outside Warren Street station, about five minutes’ walk from UCL. Services to these stops include
route numbers: 10, 14, 24, 29, 73, 134, 390.
Travelling around the UK
National Rail
London has many mainline rail stations. Most of these are a short journey away from UCL, with
the stations at Euston, King’s Cross and St Pancras being within easy walking distance. Trains from
London serve destinations across the UK. The best value tickets are obtained by being flexible and
booking well in advance.
Coaches
Coaches from London operate to most parts of the UK, many offering direct and very economical
services. Details can be obtained from the TfL website.
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WC1H 0EG
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