Keep on keeping on

Disheartened solicitors who have repeatedly failed to join the bench should be encouraged to learn that some of the country’s most senior judges weren’t successful in their applications first time round – or even subsequently.

Her Honour Judge Anuja Dhir KC, the first non-white circuit judge to sit at the Old Bailey, told the Westminster Legal Policy Forum’s diversity conference that she applied to become a recorder four times before she finally got the job. 

‘Each time I thought “that’s it, I’m never going to apply for it again”,’ she recalled. ‘After feeling sorry for myself, I realised if I did not apply again, then no one is going to notice or care.’

Encouraging lawyers not to chuck in the towel, Dhir acknowledged she was asking lawyers ‘to do something I found really hard to do myself.

‘If you want a position, keep applying. For some of the exercises the odds are stacked against you. But each time you apply and fail, you will learn valuable lessons for the next time you apply.’

Timely advice. Lord Bellamy KC wrote for Gazette Online this week urging solicitors to get their applications in for the district bench. There are plenty of vacancies, and though Bellamy could hardly say so, any solicitors who do pitch for a DJ gig may well be considered kindly.