A trip for a group of year 12 students taking either Government and Politics or Law as an A-Level where invited to visit the Royal Courts of Justice. It gave students an insider view of what goes on behind the scenes in the courts. The schools attending were given tours around the historical building. The trip helped many students to consider working as a lawyer to a judge in the future. 

A question time for schools was also held at the Royal Courts of Justice. All the schools that attended were Burnt Mill Academy, Carshalton High School for Girls, Coloma Convent Girls' School, Copthall School, Regent High School, St Mary's and St John's CE School, St Marylebone CE School and Walthamstow Academy. The schools gathered at the Court of the Lord Chief Justice (court 4). It was a surreal experience for all, as the interior of the Court was beautifully decorated and filled with royal red colours all around. Although, some felt intimidated. 

We had the opportunity to ask 5 judges questions regarding their lives as a judge, what inspired them and how they would like to see change in the Judiciary of England and Wales. I was personally assigned the question of asking what a day for a Judge was like. Each gave a really quick answer; that everyday is a different one. 'It's unpredictable'. 

Each judge specialises in something different. The Rt Hon Dame Heather Carol Hallett DBE (chairing the panel) was educated at state schools in Hampshire and St Hugh's College, Oxford. In 1972 she was called to the Bar and became QC in 1989, specialising in crime. Judge Hallett was also the first woman to act as Leader of the South Eastern Circuit and to chair the Bar council in 1998. Since 2010 she has been chair of the Diversity Committee of the Judges' Council/ the Senior Judiciary's lead on Diversity. Mrs Justice Cutts is the first member of her family to have gone to university. She studied Law at Anglia Ruskin University before becoming a barrister in 1986 (at the age of 22) specialising in criminal law. She has prosecuted and defended many criminal trials over many years. In 2018 she became a High Court Judge sitting in the Queen's Bench Division. Deputy Senior District Judge (Chief Magistrate) Tanweer Ikram was born and schooled in Slough. Judge Ikram then graduated from Wolverhampton Polytechnic in Law. He was called to the Bar in 1990, then admitted as a solicitor in 1993. In 2008, he was President of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association. Judge Ikram is now a Bencher of Inner Temple. In 2009, Judge Ikram was appointed judge in 2009 and is now a specialist judge in extradition. Regional Employment Judge Fiona Monk studied Law at Warwick University, then qualified as a solicitor. Judge Monk has been an Employment Judge since 2000. Since 2013 Judge Monk has also been a Diversity and Community Judge and was appointed as a Commissioner for the Judicial Appointments Commissions in 2017. HHJ Angela Morris studied Law at the University of Leicester and was called to the Bar in 1984. For 2 years she worked as a lawyer at Lloyd's of London Insurance Market in order to save up the money to be able to return to the Bar (to complete her pupillage). She is currently on her second secondment to the Central Criminal Court.