Marshalling | barrister | work experience | courts

Both times were invaluable and I can’t stress enough how useful it is to marshal a judge if you aspire to the Bar. It stands out on your CV and is really quite a useful experience. Also, if you like the feeling of power, you might be interested to know that during cases you are usually allowed to sit on the bench next to the judge and so it can feel like counsel are making submissions to you too! 

Marshalling is by no means a substitute for mini-pupillages but complements them very well. Indeed, marshalling is best experienced after having done a mini-pupillage or two because it allows you to see the final stage of the legal process – it is useful to see the result of all the work done by the solicitors and barristers. It shows you what you will be working towards as a practitioner, your day in court.

Having done a few mini-pupillages and a few stints of marshalling I can honestly say that whilst mini-pupillages give you a good insight into life at the Bar and perhaps more crucially that particular Chambers, marshalling affords you a unique ‘bird’s eye view’ of the legal system.

Bear in mind that most judges used to be barristers and so they are experts. As a result they have a kind of clarity of expression that you don’t get with barristers. To put it colloquially, by and large they will ‘tell it how it is’. In my experience, judges are very open about their work and their impartiality makes them useful resources as they will tell you for example, the merits of a case or the strengths (and weaknesses) of counsel’s advocacy frankly and honestly.

In fact, don’t be surprised if a judge heavily criticises a barrister’s performance or case once back in their chamber and out of earshot! Finding out what styles of advocacy strike chords with a judge is useful when preparing for moots, debates and most importantly in practice.

There are three ways to secure marshalling. Firstly, for those of you who are lucky enough to have a contact through family connections – chase this up as it’s the easiest way. Secondly, you can contact your Inn of Court as they all offer formal marshalling schemes. Thirdly, if you’re not a member of an Inn yet (shame on you, join one!) or if you’re going to be a solicitor then you can simply contact your local Crown or county court.

You need to phone the ‘court manager’ or ‘listing officer’ at your chosen court and enquire whether marshalling is offered there. The contact details are easily found on the HMCS website. Next, send a copy of your CV and a covering letter to your point of contact explaining why you want to do marshalling and your dates of availability.

If you do manage to arrange some marshalling then make sure you’ve got all the basics covered: get a dark suit, research the judge you’re shadowing and write a thank you email to your court contact.

When you first meet the judge it’s a good idea to enquire how they wish to be addressed. When I marshalled at the High Court I knew the proper mode of address was ‘my Lord’ or ‘my Lady’ but most of the judges I asked to be addressed by their first names. However, not all will be so humble; when I attended my local Crown court the judge preferred to be addressed formally at all times.

When marshalling, try to walk the line between barely speaking and babbling endlessly. As a rule of thumb, only speak when spoken to until you’ve built up rapport with the judge. I don’t want to paint all judges as too self-important to converse with ‘mere students’. But realistically, when nervous, you’re quite liable to say something stupid or worse, say something pointless.

In reality the situation will vary with each judge; some may chat to you for twenty minutes on life, the universe and everything, others may feel more inclined to plonk you on an armchair and wince every time you disturb the sacred silence.

During one marshalling stint I was lucky enough to be able to sit with four different judges. This turned out to be a rare blessing as I was able to see the sheer variance between the judges – some would offer me coffee (always decline) and chat to me for ages about the intricacies of the cases they were hearing, while others would get a look of intense annoyance if you so much as rustled a newspaper. One judge peered up from his papers every few minutes, clearly savouring my inner turmoil as to whether I should ask an intelligent question or simply sit quietly until it was time to go to court.

The variety of things you are able to observe will vary from court to court and from day to day so don’t expect every day to be packed with murder trials and heated cross examinations. One day I watched what seemed like a hundred bail applications, which are interesting at first but fast become tedious. Another day I got to see the conclusion of an interesting rape case and on one day I saw next to nothing in court, reduced to simply flicking through an issue of Counsel in the judge’s chamber for a few hours.

If you get a particularly kind judge, they may offer to take you to lunch one day, as is sometimes the case during mini-pupillages. However this is by no means ‘the norm’ and should not be expected. I myself was treated to lunch in my Inn one day and had a rare opportunity of an uninterrupted conversation with the judge one to one, which was brilliant. At another court, I was allowed to eat lunch in the judges’ dining room every day and was privy to some very interesting conversations.

I probably learnt as much about life on the bench and at the Bar during the lunches with judges as I did during a whole mini-pupillage. It really was quite good fun, but if you are lucky enough to dine with several judges, just sit and observe, resist the urge to chime in with anecdotes amounting to ‘me too’. They probably don’t care and you’ll learn more if you don’t talk. 

Lastly and of crucial import is remembering to send the judge a thank you letter or at the very least a thank you email. If you’re lucky enough to secure some marshalling, make the most of it, it goes by quick and you may well find yourself wishing you were back there during your next Land Law lecture. 

Bona Fortuna!

Rajesh Vora

GDL student at Nottingham

18-01-2010