{"id":1086,"date":"2026-09-03T10:22:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T10:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/?p=1086---75f82a0b-ebe3-4bab-9d29-7f79557534dd"},"modified":"2026-10-02T01:21:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:21:47","slug":"degree-need-become-judge","status":"publish","type":"query","link":"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/queries\/degree-need-become-judge\/","title":{"rendered":"What degree do I need to become a Judge?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Who wouldn&#8217;t want to be a judge? You get to wear those spiffy robes, swing a mean gavel, and make pronouncements that become part of history. Plus, you get to sit higher than everyone else in the courtroom.<\/p>\n<p>Well, hold your horses, there. Have you gone to law school yet? Have you passed the bar yet? Have you practiced law for at least a few years, and made a great reputation for yourself? No? Then let&#8217;s back it up a few steps.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Education<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s assume you have a bachelor&#8217;s degree in something appropriate &#8211; political science, history, social science, economics, business, or even English. Hope you did an internship with a law office, because experience in the field makes a huge difference in a law school&#8217;s interest. You have to show them you want in.<\/p>\n<p>Once you get into law school, you&#8217;ll take courses in things like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Clinical Practice<\/li>\n<li>Contract Law<\/li>\n<li>Criminal Law<\/li>\n<li>Legal History<\/li>\n<li>Philosophy of Law<\/li>\n<li>Torts<\/li>\n<li>Analytical Methods<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These classes will be tough. Many law courses follow the Socratic method &#8211; the professor picks a person out of the class, asks them questions, and engages them in a dialogue until the student runs out of answers. Then on to the next. It&#8217;s high-pressure, and it will break down all but the most determined student. Plus, it prepares you for what a real courtroom will be like.<\/p>\n<p>But you don&#8217;t want to just be the lawyer going back and forth with the judge. You want to be the Big Kahuna, asking the hard questions from the bench. Here&#8217;s the next step.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Becoming a Judge<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Pass the bar exam. Practice for a few years at least. During that time, get to know everyone important in the legal community in your area. We mean everyone. You&#8217;re going to need all the friends you can get. Make a good reputation for yourself. Make sure everyone in local and regional law and politics knows your name.<\/p>\n<p>Then, fill out an application. Yeah, it&#8217;s that easy.<\/p>\n<p>Just kidding. That&#8217;s just the start. That application will ask you a lot of hard questions, and you will have to answer them honestly, even if they&#8217;re embarrassing, because a lie will sink you. For many judgeships, you&#8217;ll be appointed by the legislature or the bar association (depending on the level of judge and the area you&#8217;re applying in). Expect to get turned down, maybe a few times. And each time, get to know more people. Make friends in politics, because often the good word of a state senator or another judge is the key to getting the appointment.<\/p>\n<p>For some seats, you have to go through an election. That&#8217;s a whole other ballgame, because you have to get out there and campaign. Knock on doors. Hold fundraisers. Beg wealthy people for money and support. Take a good picture for the posters. Don&#8217;t say anything stupid. Kiss babies.<\/p>\n<p>Once you get appointed or elected, you&#8217;ll have to spend some time training, mainly learning codes of conduct and observing other judges. But soon enough, you&#8217;ll have the gavel in your hand, and you&#8217;ll be well on your way to your own daytime court show.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Outlook<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With the responsibility of being a judge, you have to expect to get paid. According to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bls.gov\/ooh\/legal\/judges-and-hearing-officers.htm#tab-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a>, median pay for a judge in 2012 was a little over $100,000, though it depends on the level (Superior Court, Court of Appeals, District Court, or Supreme Court). In some areas, the salary comes closer to $200,000. And some judgeships are appointed for life, so there&#8217;s plenty of job security there.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Additional Resources:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/which-degree-do-you-need-to-become-a-lawyer\/\">What Degree Do You Need to Be a Lawyer?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/20-non-law-firm-jobs-law-degree\/\">20 Non-Law Firm Jobs with a Law Degree<\/a><\/p>\n<p><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/top-25-law-schools\/\">Top 25 Law Schools<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Who wouldn&#8217;t want to be a judge? You get to wear those spiffy robes, swing a mean gavel, and make pronouncements that become part [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"mobius_hide_qdf":false,"mobius_hide_el":false,"mobius_limit":"","mobius_degree":"","mobius_category":"","mobius_subject":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,82,100],"tags":[140,142,141,67],"class_list":["post-1086","query","type-query","status-publish","hentry","category-criminal-justice","category-grad-school","category-liberal-arts-2","tag-criminal-justice-2","tag-judge","tag-law","tag-masters-degree"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What degree do I need to become a Judge? - DegreeQuery.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/queries\/degree-need-become-judge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What degree do I need to become a Judge? - DegreeQuery.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Who wouldn&#8217;t want to be a judge? 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