Andrew Tucker and I share memories of those days of the limousines and the lush catering and accommodation, albeit at one significant remove from experiencing it. He as a very senior practitioner member of the bar and I as a veteran solicitor advocate and Birmingham Law Society office holder. The other aspect had to do with the professional and career track of solicitors being out of kilter with seeking judicial office.
I suppose most of us enjoy the 'trappings' that confirm to us we have some sort of value, even if they may also be regarded as mere icing on the cake. High Court Judges sitting in Birmingham were swept to and from the judicial lodgings and court by limousine escorted by a police motorcyclist outrider. That included a journey each lunchtime, of course. The service was withdrawn perhaps 20 years ago. Circuit Judges had their own dining rooms where proper food was properly served: the courts had their own catering facilities, (also providing food in a public restaurant for court users). Today judicial lunchtimes are often the sandwich and crisp 'meal-deal' variety.
First-class rail travel for High Court Judges going out on circuit was also abandoned and in at least one centre without its own lodgings, the provision of a room in a comfortable hotel (with a desk large enough to work upon) has been replaced by a bed in a Premier Inn (or equivalent) I am told.
These comforts were not essentials but they were a recognition of status and no doubt helped, if only psychologically, to compensate for the loss of immediate income many judges experience on appointment. Judges are still human beings doing difficult jobs on society's behalf. They (and I was never one) respond to the same treatment we all do: it may be a little 'cosseting' but it makes a difference to the day!
Not surprising really. Even the pay for a HCJ is a huge step down from what senior practitioners can earn in private practice. but I doubt it's the pay alone, it's the daily grind of the never ending conveyor belt of cases, the utter misery (and it really is) of dealing with angry and confused litigants in person in family cases and the broken and dirty buildings (have you ever been to the CFC - the carpet stains are of Jackson Pollock quality). One of the golden rules in life is no public clock in the RCJ is allowed ever to tell the actual time - batteries are expensive apparently! I can see daily how the judges are under pressure from above to keep everything as short and cheap as possible. The only good thing is the court staff and the (in most cases) mutual respect of the lawyers and the judges doing their very best in a disintegrating system. I am sure it's not like that in the Rolls Building. Going there is like comparing Gatwick to an airport in Dubai!
Andrew Tucker and I share memories of those days of the limousines and the lush catering and accommodation, albeit at one significant remove from experiencing it. He as a very senior practitioner member of the bar and I as a veteran solicitor advocate and Birmingham Law Society office holder. The other aspect had to do with the professional and career track of solicitors being out of kilter with seeking judicial office.
I suppose most of us enjoy the 'trappings' that confirm to us we have some sort of value, even if they may also be regarded as mere icing on the cake. High Court Judges sitting in Birmingham were swept to and from the judicial lodgings and court by limousine escorted by a police motorcyclist outrider. That included a journey each lunchtime, of course. The service was withdrawn perhaps 20 years ago. Circuit Judges had their own dining rooms where proper food was properly served: the courts had their own catering facilities, (also providing food in a public restaurant for court users). Today judicial lunchtimes are often the sandwich and crisp 'meal-deal' variety.
First-class rail travel for High Court Judges going out on circuit was also abandoned and in at least one centre without its own lodgings, the provision of a room in a comfortable hotel (with a desk large enough to work upon) has been replaced by a bed in a Premier Inn (or equivalent) I am told.
These comforts were not essentials but they were a recognition of status and no doubt helped, if only psychologically, to compensate for the loss of immediate income many judges experience on appointment. Judges are still human beings doing difficult jobs on society's behalf. They (and I was never one) respond to the same treatment we all do: it may be a little 'cosseting' but it makes a difference to the day!
Andrew Tucker.
Not surprising really. Even the pay for a HCJ is a huge step down from what senior practitioners can earn in private practice. but I doubt it's the pay alone, it's the daily grind of the never ending conveyor belt of cases, the utter misery (and it really is) of dealing with angry and confused litigants in person in family cases and the broken and dirty buildings (have you ever been to the CFC - the carpet stains are of Jackson Pollock quality). One of the golden rules in life is no public clock in the RCJ is allowed ever to tell the actual time - batteries are expensive apparently! I can see daily how the judges are under pressure from above to keep everything as short and cheap as possible. The only good thing is the court staff and the (in most cases) mutual respect of the lawyers and the judges doing their very best in a disintegrating system. I am sure it's not like that in the Rolls Building. Going there is like comparing Gatwick to an airport in Dubai!