Lawyers will have the opportunity to become High Court, Senior Circuit, Circuit and District Judges, plus apply for popular tribunal positions, in the April 2012 to March 2013 programme now published on the JAC website.

Date: 11 January 2012

18 confirmed selection exercises are detailed for the next financial year with 12 exercises for those with legal experience compared to six for other specialists, such as psychiatrists and disability experts.

The Deputy District Judge (Civil) exercise with an anticipated 72 vacancies is the first to launch in April. This exercise was originally scheduled to launch in February of this year.

There is also a District Judge (Civil) exercise, expected to launch in March 2013 with 70 vacancies. And the JAC has been asked to run another High Court exercise in the new financial year - again to fill five vacancies. This exercise is expected to launch in October.

The new programme introduces the first chance in two years for people to become a Fee-paid Employment Judge.

Some exercises are also running more frequently than in the past. For example, there are now two Senior Circuit exercises per year, with a total of 24 roles to be filled in 2012/13.

The Ministry of Justice has also asked the JAC to run two new selection exercises as part of the 2011/12 programme to launch before April. One is for lawyers:

•  Fee-paid Judge of the First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber), expected to launch in March with 145 vacancies

The other is for doctors:

• Fee-paid Medical Member of the First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber), launching in February with 213 opportunities

The full news release is available on the right-hand-side of this page.