Changes to Judicial Titles (December 2022)
UPDATE ONE (1 December 2022)
On 1 December 2022, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett, released a statement announcing a change in the practice of how certain Judges are addressed in court. The practice was to address them as ‘Sir/Madam’ or ‘Judge’. From now on, the Judges listed below* should be addressed in court or tribunal hearings as ‘Judge’:
- Masters
- District Judges
- District Judges (Magistrates’ Courts)
The move away from ‘Sir or Madam’ involves modern and simple terminology, reflecting the important judicial role whilst maintaining the necessary degree of respect. The change is also aimed at assisting litigants in person involved in court and tribunal proceedings.
*The list of judges is fuller, however, the judges listed above are the only judges who are relevant for the SQE assessments.
FURTHER INFORMATION
For the full update on Modes of Address, see the announcement from the Lord Chief Justice on the Judiciary website:
RELEVANCE TO YOUR SQE1 ASSESSMENT
This update is relevant for a number of your SQE1 and SQE2 assessments. “Modes of address” are identified on both the FLK1 and FLK2 assessment specification in respect of Dispute Resolution and Criminal Practice. Should an MCQ ask you how to address a district judge in the magistrates’ court, for example, the answer previously would be “Sir/Madam”; the answer is now “Judge”.
Given that this change only came into effect on 1 December 2022, candidates undertaking the SQE1 assessments in January 2023 will not be assessed on this change in terminology. This is because the cut-off date for the “present” state of law for candidates was September 2022 (ie four calendar months prior to the assessment).
However, those candidates sitting SQE1 in July 2023 will be expected to be aware of the change in terminology. Likewise, candidates sitting SQE2 in April 2023 will need to know the new terminology for their advocacy assessments.