3.1 Judges and Administrators

Good working relations between judges and administrators, with give and take on both sides, is essential to the running of a harmonious and efficient court and one that provides a high level of service to court users.

The relationship between judges and administrators is a subject on which a great deal could be written. For the newly-appointed recorder or deputy district judge, however, there are probably only three short areas which we need to cover: the role of key members of the administration; the dividing-line between administrative and judicial decision-making; and what to do when problems arise.

3.2 Who are the administrators?

The civil servant in charge of the administration on each circuit is the Circuit Administrator.

A circuit is divided into three or more Groups, each of which is headed by a Group Manager. One of his functions is the organisation of the itineraries for both full-time and part-time judges.

Each court within the Group is run by a Court Manager, whose grade within the Court Service will depend on the size and jurisdiction of the court (as to which, see further below).

For each Crown Court, there is a Listing Officer, who may well be responsible for the listing of cases at a satellite court as well as at the principal court.

For each Civil Trial Centre and the feeder courts associated with it, there is a Diary Manager, whose responsibilities for listing will often extend to family, as well as to civil, cases. A Care Centre will usually have a Listing Officer who is specifically responsible for family work and may (in liaison with the local Diary Manager) look after civil listing as well. Bear in mind that the division of functions between these officials is not uniform throughout the country.

The part-time judge will, of course, come across many other members of the court staff, particularly court clerks and ushers. The key decision-makers, however, are those whom we have mentioned in the last paragraph.

3.3 Grades of Civil Servant

The acronyms used for different levels of civil servant are confusing when encountered for the first time. In fact, these levels have recently been changed by the Court Service, and the list below includes those new descriptions. The level of civil servants that you are likely to come across most frequently, in order of seniority, are:

SEO     Senior Executive Officer (now Span 6)

HEO    Higher Executive Officer  (now Span 5)

EO       Executive Officer (now Span 4)

AO      Administrative Officer (now Span 3)

AA       Administrative Assistant (now Span 2)

In larger courts, the Court Manager will be an SEO and section heads HEOs. Listing officers are generally EOs. You may find yourself sitting in a very small court, where the Court Manager is an EO. It will always be to your advantage to get to know the court staff.

3.4  Where does judging end and administration begin?

The respective functions and responsibilities of judges and administrators are not something generally of concern to the part-timer. A lot comes down to common sense.

The sitting pattern of the part-timer is a matter on which he or she should be consulted in advance, but is ultimately for the administration to decide. If a part-timer wants to progress up the judicial ladder, availability and flexibility will do no harm.

No administrator should, and we hope that none ever will, attempt to influence a judge as to the decision which is to be made on the merits of a particular case. It goes without saying that any such attempt would raise a most serious constitutional issue.

Applications for adjournments should be dealt with, like any other application, on their merits. The interests of the Court Service, whether in thinning an overloaded list (by granting an adjournment) or keeping up the statistics (by refusing) should not play a part in the judge's decision.

Perhaps most difficult of all is the question of listing. It is sometimes cynically said that listing is treated as an administrative function when things go right and a judicial function when things go wrong. The judge is the person who, with the assistance of the parties, is best placed to decide how long a particular case is likely to take. If it is the considered view of a judge that a case will take (say) a day, and that this will have unfortunate consequences for the listing of that case or other cases, that view must prevail. Such a view should, however, only be formed after taking account of the input of an experienced Listing Officer or Diary Manager, who will have acquired an accurate 'nose' for predicting the duration of hearings and the likelihood of cases collapsing.

3.5 Problems

Most problems can be resolved after discussion between the part-timer and an appropriate member of staff. Sometimes it may be necessary to take a matter one or more steps up the administrative hierarchy. But, before this happens, a part-timer should always consult his or her immediate judicial superior: for a recorder, this will be (according to the discipline within which the problem has arisen) the Resident or Designated Civil or Designated Family Judge; for a deputy district judge, it will be the senior (by date of appointment) of the District Judges at the county court in question. Usually a quiet word between a full-time judge and the relevant administrator will produce a mutually acceptable solution.