Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrate Arbitrate, advise, adjudicate, or administer justice in a court of law. May sentence defendant in criminal cases according to government statutes or sentencing guidelines. May determine liability of defendant in civil cases. May perform wedding ceremonies.
Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrate is Also Know as
In different settings, Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrate is titled as
- Circuit Court Judge
- Circuit Judge
- County Judge
- Court of Appeals Judge
- District Court Judge
- Judge
- Justice of the Peace
- Magisterial District Judge
- Magistrate
- Superior Court Judge
Education and Training of Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrate
Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrate is categorized in Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrate
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Education Required for Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrate
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Degrees Related to Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrate
Training Required for Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrate
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrate in different industries are
- Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers
- Judicial Law Clerks
- Lawyers
- Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators
- Paralegals and Legal Assistants
- Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists
- Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
- Equal Opportunity Representatives and Officers
- Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Teachers, Postsecondary
- Law Teachers, Postsecondary
- Bailiffs
- Court, Municipal, and License Clerks
- Court Reporters and Simultaneous Captioners
- Detectives and Criminal Investigators
- Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
- First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives
- Coroners
- Labor Relations Specialists
- First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers
- Fraud Examiners, Investigators and Analysts
What Do Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrate do?
- Instruct juries on applicable laws, direct juries to deduce the facts from the evidence presented, and hear their verdicts.
- Sentence defendants in criminal cases, on conviction by jury, according to applicable government statutes.
- Rule on admissibility of evidence and methods of conducting testimony.
- Preside over hearings and listen to allegations made by plaintiffs to determine whether the evidence supports the charges.
- Read documents on pleadings and motions to ascertain facts and issues.
- Interpret and enforce rules of procedure or establish new rules in situations where there are no procedures already established by law.
- Monitor proceedings to ensure that all applicable rules and procedures are followed.
- Advise attorneys, juries, litigants, and court personnel regarding conduct, issues, and proceedings.
- Research legal issues and write opinions on the issues.
- Conduct preliminary hearings to decide issues, such as whether there is reasonable and probable cause to hold defendants in felony cases.
- Write decisions on cases.
- Award compensation for damages to litigants in civil cases in relation to findings by juries or by the court.
- Settle disputes between opposing attorneys.
- Supervise other judges, court officers, and the court's administrative staff.
- Impose restrictions upon parties in civil cases until trials can be held.
- Rule on custody and access disputes, and enforce court orders regarding custody and support of children.
- Grant divorces and divide assets between spouses.
- Participate in judicial tribunals to help resolve disputes.
- Perform wedding ceremonies.
- Provide information regarding the judicial system or other legal issues through the media and public speeches.
- Issue arrest warrants.
Qualities of Good Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrate
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
Tools Used by Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrate
- Computer laser printers
- Courtroom microphones
- Desktop computers
- Digital audio recorders
- Digital video players
- Gavels
- Laptop computers
- Laser facsimile machines
- Multiline telephone systems
- Personal computers
- Tablet computers
- Teleconferencing equipment
- Videoconferencing equipment
Technology Skills required for Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrate
- Adobe Acrobat
- Courtroom scheduling software
- Email software
- Hyland OnBase Enterprise Content Management
- Instant messaging software
- LexisNexis
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft operating system
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Word
- Online databases
- Thomson Reuters Westlaw
- Videoconferencing software
- Web browser software
- Word processing software