This article draws cameo portraits from observational research of the working lives of three diverse district judges (magistrates' courts), exercising their criminal jurisdiction in a variety of courts. It puts flesh on the bones of previous statistical research. Its purpose is to provide an insight into their day-to-day working world and their approach to it, especially the unseen youth court, for those of us who are unfamiliar with it, such as academics, many practising lawyers and other levels of the judiciary. ‘Here, it's like easyJet. You turn up and take off.’
This article examines the backgrounds of a sample of 77 English and Welsh judges in an ambitious research project sponsored by the Nuffield Foundation, in which I work-shadowed and interviewed a core sample of 40 judges at every level of the court structure, in 2003–5, with the aim of finding out what modern judges do and what they are like. I interviewed a further 37.
Alan Paterson's latest masterwork has left no stone unturned. [2] It is executed with the same breadth and depth but with even more attention to detail than his Law Lords book. [3] It will serve as a uniquely informative and thoughtprovoking reference work for generations of scholars. Very few academics have the guts and the energy to conduct empirical research, especially with elites. Noone has analysed the top court with Paterson's intelligence and insight. His painstaking work is humbling to the rest of us. This article therefore modestly offers a few reflections to mull over and points to watch in future. [4] Every year, I take my class of American law students in to observe the Court and meet a different Justice and a judicial assistant, and to observe proceedings. I ask them to think about the following points and compare the UKSC in these respects with the US Supreme Court.
11'rt.s I. coin >I Heath McDonald is affiliated with Deakiri University. Penny Darbyshire is affiliated with the Roberts Research Group. Colin Jevons is affiliated with Swinburne U 11 i ve rs i t y. Address co rres poncie rice to: Heat li McDo na Id. Bowa te r Schoo I of Manage men t and Marketing.
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