Skip Law School and just become a judge! Forum

[LSkoolbug]

I came across this article in a magazine today, and was quite shocked to learn that a person DOES NOT need a law degree or even legal experience to be a judge. According to the article all a person would need to do is be able to "follow processes and procedures", and be able to "make good judgment".

I'd like to know what the legal community thinks about this. You can read the article here at, http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20 ... e-required

I find it interesting that this article is in military magazines. It's not encouraging military personnel to attend law school and gain the formal education to learn the laws of the United States, but instead telling them how they can cut corners with just a couple recommendations from commanding generals.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Most jurisdictions/judgeships do require a law degree. It's only the lowest level local judgeships (county magistrate judges really do mostly do traffic and the like) that don't. And if you're in a county with a reasonable population, only lawyers will get picked. I know of a rural county in a western state that has a population of about 2000 - they appointed someone with a MEd as their local judge. Judges have to live in the jurisdiction and I doubt there were any lawyers out there. (I don't know Valencia county, NM, but there are a LOT of very underpopulated rural counties in NM.)

[Anonymous User]

You might have a heart attack when you find info about justices without a law degree.