A lawyer appointed as a recorder to sit in the civil jurisdiction believes he may be one of the youngest solicitors to be appointed to the role.

Carl Jones, a partner at Sheffield firm MD Law who specialises in insolvency litigation, begins his formal induction as a recorder in September and should begin sitting by the end of the year – all before he turns 35.

He told the Gazette of his ‘surprise’ when he found out he was being recommended after deciding to apply on a speculative basis.

The 34-year-old said: ‘I am so pleased [to have been appointed], I was very surprised to get the email to say I was being recommended for applying. I’ll be 10 years qualified come September, still I thought it was more a speculative application. It’s something I wanted to do but applying was as much about getting experience and going through the process. To actually get appointed, I was very pleasantly surprised.’

CDJ

Jones begins his formal induction as a recorder in September

Source: Carl Jones

Jones was appointed a deputy district judge in 2020, where he had a ‘taste of life on the bench’ and the following year was authorised to sit in the Business and Property Courts in Leeds and Newcastle. It was a role he ‘really enjoyed’ but his appointment as a recorder is the ‘next step in the judicial ladder’. He added: ‘It’s my ambition to become a full-time judge.’

Speaking of his time as a DDJ, he said: ‘I think the balance with work has worked quite well. It may be a bit different as a recorder, multiple days at a time rather than an odd here and there, it’ll be a different balance.

‘The partners at MD Law have been very supportive which has helped a lot. It is more difficult for solicitors to manage a part-time role, maybe that’s why there are not as many young solicitors as recorders?

‘It’ll be a different set of challenges to my time as deputy district judge, there will be lots of types of cases that are not familiar from my day-to-day and that is part of the challenge and interest to judicial work: the variety and the fact we have got to get stuck in and work to the best of your ability. ‘

Jones was appointed as a recorder on 30 May and will sit in the civil jurisdiction in the north eastern circuit.

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