The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) will be launching a selection exercise in January to identify 64 candidates for the post of Circuit Judge. There are 45 vacancies in the Crime Jurisdiction, 15 vacancies in the Family jurisdiction and 4 vacancies in the Civil jurisdiction.
Circuit Judges sit in the Crown, County Courts and Family Courts. It is the responsibility of the judge to exercise control over proceedings, both during the pre-trial stage and when presiding over the trial itself, ensuring the proceedings are conducted efficiently and fairly and maintaining the authority and dignity of the Court.
This seminar, on Tuesday 13 January 2026, will be focused on Civil and Family.
The seminarThe Judicial Office is organising a pre-application seminar that will take place online via Microsoft Teams from 5pm to 6pm on Tuesday 13 January 2026. You will need to register to attend.
The seminar aims to help applicants be better prepared to make an application and to receive up-to-date guidance and advice on the JAC’s selection process. As well as the JAC, you will also hear from leadership judges and current serving Circuit Judges.
Who should attendCircuit Judges are part of a team; successful candidates will be expected to play a full part in the work of the team, assisting colleagues in dealing with the overall workload of the Court and taking on ancillary roles as required.
Applications are particularly welcome from under-represented groups (women, ethnic minority candidates, disabled candidates and solicitors).
For more information on the Circuit Judge role, please visit the Circuit Judges page on the judicial website.
Case StudiesCheck out the links below to see first hand what it’s like being a Circuit Judge.
Judge Canavan on being a Circuit Judge.
Judge Sadiq on being a Circuit Judge.
Further informationVisit the JAC’s vacancy listing page.
Sign up for alerts for this exercise.
For any queries regarding the pre-application seminar, please email JudicialHROutreachEvents@judiciary.uk.
A separate pre-application seminar focusing on Crime will be held on Monday 12 January 2026.
Although there will be a Q&A segment in the seminar, you can also send any early questions that can be put to the panel. Please send early questions to judicialhroutreachevents@judiciary.uk and ensure that the subject title is “Question for CJ Panel”.
Please note that although the Judicial Office will be running the pre-application seminar, the actual recruitment campaign is being done and led by the Judicial Appointments Commission.
The post Pre-application seminar: Circuit Judge (Civil and Family) appeared first on Courts and Tribunals Judiciary.
https://www.judiciary.uk/pre-application-seminar-circuit-judge-civil-and-family/
seen at 14:50, 29 December in Courts and Tribunals Judiciary.