Catherine Harris: Deputy District Judge

---

“I am based on the South Eastern circuit, which means that I sit largely in courts in London, Sussex and Kent, depending on where there are vacancies. I have really enjoyed the variety of different places; they are very welcoming and supportive, and I relish the challenge of getting to grips with the way different courts do things at speed. It never gets boring!”

---

Background

I am a solicitor advocate; I started my legal working life in the City, doing insurance, banking and regulatory litigation. I went in-house at what was the Financial Services Authority (now the Financial Conduct Authority) in 2003 joining their enforcement function, and am still there 20 years later. I currently spend 3 days a week on the day job, then one day a week on each of my judicial roles. As well as being a Deputy District Judge (DDJ) sitting in Civil and Financial Remedies, I am also a fee-paid First-tier Tribunal Judge sitting on Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) cases.

Some years ago I happened to read an article in the Lawyer which said that female candidates were being offered free support towards becoming a High Court judge. I fired off an application, not expecting to hear any more, and unexpectedly got a place on the scheme. I was nowhere near ready to apply to the High Court, but I got to spend a week shadowing a High Court Judge and to attend a JAC seminar about the application process. I really enjoyed every minute and by the end I felt that this was something I would like to do in the future.

My biggest challenge was a practical one; I have a disability which means that my eyes are very light sensitive. When my condition flares up, it means having to limit screen time, and routinely means attending office and court wearing a visor and/or dark glasses. I had never come across any judges who had visual impairments (although I have since met several) and was concerned that I would not be able to compete successfully against those without such difficulties. When the DDJ competition happened, I was actually off sick from work and unable to look at screens for any length of time, so instead of just battling through it I swallowed my pride and contacted the JAC to ask for a reasonable adjustment. They made adjustments for the online tests so I could print the documents and then use dictation software to compose my answers. It worked!

Application

Many candidates will tell you that the JAC selection process is a marathon not a sprint, and that many people apply several times before they succeed – I was successful in obtaining my DDJ role (and Tribunal judge role) on the third time of applying.

There is a lot of help available to candidates through the Law Society’s Solicitor Judges Division and also through the Pre-Application Judicial Education programme (PAJE). I was lucky enough to get a place in a PAJE discussion group and this made all the difference in how confident I felt going into the process. Each time I applied and did not get selected was an opportunity to learn more about the process, to build confidence in dealing with things like the role play and competency interview, but it also took a lot of resilience to keep going at times.

Every time I emailed my assessors to say that I had not got through, one of them sent back a simple message immediately: “Keep going!”. It is also well worth contacting your local court and asking if you can observe cases – getting a feel for how the judge goes about their job is really helpful.

The role

What attracted me to the DDJ role was the sheer breadth and pace of the work, and the opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives. People come to court for all sorts of reasons, and I have seen sides of society I had never come across before. Intellectually it is stimulating and busy; when I arrive at court at 8am I have very little idea of what the day will bring and there is always something unexpected.

I come into contact with lots of different people, whether other judges, court staff, lawyers or litigants in person. There are four basic types of civil list – fast track trials, small claims, mixed civil applications and possessions, all of which pose very different challenges, and all of which we are expected to do regularly, so the variety is huge.

Other judges

Find out more about the wide range of people working in legal roles.

View case studies