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Recently, the Sociology department spent the afternoon in London at the Royal Courts of Justice. During this short visit, the students were lucky enough to have a Q&A discussion with a working judge to start off the afternoon.

As a tribunal judge, he spoke about his personal pathway into a legal career, as well as the alternative ones that can be taken for those of us considering law. After this, he was asked about discrimination within the legal system which links to our studies of Crime and Deviance and he gave a detailed explanation which addressed how everyone carries biases, subconscious or not. However, in a bid to minimise these biases, he went on to explain that throughout the process of becoming a lawyer you are trained to leave these outside the courtroom and consider only what is presented during a case. He hoped that any qualified person within the legal system simply responded to the evidence presented to them, rather than using pre-determined judgements.

He also explained the stratification of the court system and what cases each type of court subsequently deals with. After summarising the difference between a criminal and civil court, he provided an insight to how sentencing works, particularly how this differs for minors. This led the students into participating in a mock court case which used a real case that occurred in the Royal Courts of Justice back in 2012.

After the mock case the students were lucky enough to be toured around the courts. The Royal Courts of Justice building is among the largest courts in Europe with over 1,000 rooms, 80 court rooms and 3.5 miles of corridors!

Students mentioned that a really fascinating part of the tour was the permanent exhibition of legal and judicial costume. This exhibition was opened in 1974 by the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Hailsham, with the objective of compiling a record of every surviving form of historic judicial and legal costume. The collection now includes examples of judicial robes from England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Poland, Kazakhstan and Spain.

LVI students Lauren and Cristabel said that their favourite part of the exhibition was the display to represent the year of the Sex Disqualification Act 1919, which allowed women to become Solicitors, Barristers, Magistrates and Jurors for the first time. Red robes and a black 1960s evening dress, belonging to the first female High Court judge in England, Mrs Justice Lane, are also on display to give us an insight into every aspect of judicial life.

Learn more about Sociology at Hurst

Learn more about the Royal Courts of Justice