Judge

A judge decides disputes between people, businesses or the state, and in criminal cases decides or oversees how a person accused of a crime is tried and sentenced. In a hearing the judge listens to each side, rules on what evidence may be used, keeps the process fair, and then decides the outcome, or in a jury trial explains the law to the jury and passes sentence. Most of the work is not dramatic. It is reading the papers, checking the law, and writing down the decision with reasons that the losing side can read and, if they disagree, appeal. The main pull is Justice: the judge is the person whose job is to make a fair determination between two sides who disagree. Judgement is close behind, because every ruling means weighing evidence that points in different directions.

Judges exist in every country, but how a person becomes one differs a lot. In the US many state judges are elected, while federal judges are appointed. In the UK, Canada, Australia and most of Europe judges are appointed, usually after years as a practising lawyer, and in many civil-law countries (including much of Europe and Latin America) a person can train as a judge directly after law school and join a separate judicial career. Magistrates and similar lower-court judges are often part-time or not required to be lawyers in some systems [official / sector 2026].

Judges are not close to the top of the pay scale for lawyers: a senior lawyer in private practice often earns more than a judge, and people usually become judges for the work and the public role. In the US, the median pay for judges, magistrate judges and magistrates was about $153,990 in May 2025, and for administrative law judges and hearing officers about $117,860 [official 2025]. Most judges also lose some of their private life: they cannot comment on cases, are expected to avoid anything that looks like bias, and can feel isolated, because they can no longer talk freely with their former colleagues.

Much of the work is routine cases that nobody outside the court notices, such as bail, small debts, family disputes and sentencing for minor crimes. The skill that matters most is staying even-handed while a person in front of you is upset, and explaining a decision in words that person can follow.

In most countries the route is a law degree, years of practice as a lawyer (often ten or more), and then appointment, election or selection by a judicial body. In civil-law countries, a person may instead pass a competitive judicial exam soon after law school and train as a judge from the start. Lower-level roles such as magistrates, tribunal members, hearing officers and administrative law judges are an earlier or alternative step in many systems. A student who wants this should check the route in the country where they want to practise, since it differs by country and legal system.