Issues of judgmentInfiltrating the judiciary's inner sanctum is an awesome mission, discovers Sue Allen So, you fancy becoming a judge? You think joining the bench will be intellectually stimulating, set you on the right road to moving out of private practice, and be the next rung up in your career? But just how difficult is it to join the inner sanctum of the judiciary, and what will you have to go through to get there?As a solicitor, the first thing you should realise is the odds are stacked against you if you are aiming for the higher echelons of the judiciary.

At present, only two of the 103 High Court judges in England and Wales come from the solicitors' ranks: Michael Sachs, who began in private practice with Manchester firm Slater Heelis & Co (as was), and Lawrence Collins, one of the first two solicitor QCs when with City firm Herbert Smith.

Of the 574 circuit judges currently in post, only 82 are solicitors.

Only 146 of the 1,333 recorders in the UK and Wales are solicitors.

While the statistics may not be encouraging, Mark Humphries, chairman of the Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates (SAHCA), says that with more than 1,000 solicitors now able to exercise higher rights of audience, solicitors will one day make up the 'greater majority' of higher-level judicial appointees.

But appointments should be made purely on talent and not just to make up the numbers, he adds.

For practitioners with slightly lower judicial ambitions, the picture is more rosy.

Of the country's 426 district judges, 392 are solicitors; 674 of the 739 deputy district judges are solicitors.

However, women and ethnic minority candidates fare worse than their white male colleagues.

According to figures on the 1999/2000 recruitment round released by the Lord Chancellor's Department last month, only three of the 28 circuit judge appointments were women, while no ethnic solicitors were recorded as being appointed.

Of the 200 district judges appointed, only 38 were women, seven were from ethnic minority backgrounds (the ethnicity of seven appointees was unknown).

If you are keen, but unsure, it is now open to candidates to apply to the Lord Chancellor's Department to work-shadow a sitting judge for up to five days.

In the 13 months since its launch, 23 solicitors have applied to join the scheme.Still keen, despite the statistics? Then prepare for what could be a lengthy application process.

Even if you are lucky enough to be selected first time, it takes an average of one year from advertisement to appointment for deputy district judges.

Although all judicial appointments to the level of the High Court are now openly advertised, many candidates, particularly at the lower levels, are taken to one side by resident judges who suggest they might like to consider applying.

One district judge says those already sitting 'keep an eye open' for their successors.

'Even if you do relatively few appearances, judges will remember you if you are of sufficient quality,' he adds.

Once you have applied, 'opinions' as to your suitability are sought which opens up the murky area of so-called secret soundings.

Although applicants are now asked to provide no less than three, and no more than six, names of consultees who can 'speak to their work', views are still sought from other sources such as the local judiciary, senior practitioners, and organisations, such as SAHCA.In this year's report on judicial appointments, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, defended the current system, saying it was 'extensive and systematic'.

He was also critical of the Law Society, which last year pulled out of the consultation process, saying it did a 'disservice' to solicitors if it reduced the number of assessments which could be collected.

Despite the criticism, the Law Society remains opposed to the consultation process, which it views as 'outdated' and discriminatory.

Although the Society accepts that improvements have been made to the judicial appointments process over recent years - some following the publication last year of Sir Leonard Peach's report into the selection process - in its recently published Broadening the Bench report, Chancery Lane called for radical changes to the system.

It said it was time to stop 'tinkering around the edges of an outdated system' which could no longer deliver a judiciary appropriate to the needs of the society it serves.

One of the most far-reaching changes proposed would see an independent judicial appointments commission established, a proposal the Lord Chancellor has taken on board.

However, this will be an ombudsman scheme, rather than the organiser of the whole process.Candidates who make it through the shortlisting process still have to contend with what many find a rather harrowing interview.As well being asked to pass judgment on a previously unseen case study, applicants face a three-person interview panel posing questions on practice, procedure and law on matters within the court's relevant jurisdictions.

One recent interviewee described the 45-minute interview as 'terrifying'.

He adds: 'The first thing I did when it was over was to rush to the pub for a drink.' Penny Owston, a partner at Scunthorpe firm Martin & Haigh, says the interview was 'an awful experience'.

She adds: 'Most people who apply for a deputy district judgeship are experienced practitioners who have been with a firm as a partner for a long time, so this is the first time they have been through an interview like this for a long time.'Applicants are also questioned on wider issues, for example views on drug abuse and racism.

'I think they were fishing around for my political point of view, and to make sure that I wasn't going to use the bench for peddling my own viewpoints rather than adopting an unbiased judicial approach,' one candidate says.

Even for those who make it to interview, the odds of getting a post are small.

At circuit judge level, 31 candidates were appointed from 179 applicants and 80 interviewees.

Of the 745 candidates who applied to become recorders last year, 263 were interviewed and 113 were appointed.Competition for deputy district judge - from which full-time district judges are drawn - was also stiff.

Of the 425 applicants, 224 were interviewed and 112 appointed.Even when the letter of invitation lands on the mat, the process is not over.

Prospective judges are first passed as 'approved to sit'.

During the next few months, they are required to spend five days sitting with an allocated supervising or training judge who then signs them off as fit to sit as a judge.

Candidates then have a five-day residential training course run by the Judicial Studies Board where they learn 'judgecraft'.

For those heading for the civil courts, the course includes seminars and workshops on costs, delivering judgments, damages, enforcement, insolvency, family and ancillary relief, housing, human rights and consumer law.

Future occupants of the criminal bench concentrate on court management, sentencing, how to deal with jurors, witnesses, advocates and the public gallery.

And after all this, what can you expect to be paid? According to recent figures, district judges now earn 76,921, circuit judges 95,873 and High Court judges 127,872.

Even the country's highest judicial post, that of the Lord Chancellor, is at a salary that would make a partner at a reasonable City law firm run for the hills: 167,760.

Just as well the wallpaper was charged to expenses.