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Yes sir no more.
As of today, FtT and UT judges should be addressed as “Judge” rather than “Sir” or “Madam”.
Per the guidance, it is still ‘Sir or Madam’ for the wing members, although I am sure it is acceptable to refer to the medical member by their relevant title.
Also applies to District Judges and others if you have cause to appear anywhere other than a benefit tribunal.
Circuit Judges of course remain Your Honour and High Court Judges and above remain “My Lord” or “My Lady”
When I started repping I made a conscious decision not to ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am’ anyone but to call the legal member ‘judge’ and the medical member ‘doctor’, always been a bit trickier coming up with something to directly address the disability member. No-one has ever commented, if they have noticed.
I have had more than a few cringey moments with male clients calling female judges ‘love’ or referring to them as ‘the lady’. The funniest thing I can remember was a client from South Yorkshire who addressed everyone, male and female, as ‘cock’. The look on the judge’s face was priceless. He had recently been transferred up from the South somewhere and had obviously never encountered that form of address.
At my first oral hearing of the Upper Tribunal, I was taken by surprise when the PO and everyone else in the room immediately rose to their feet when the robed judge appeared in the room from somewhere out the back. Reacting late I stumbled to my feet, kicked the table and spilled my glass of water all over the PO’s papers. Formalities can be tricky.
But for some reason Magistrates still get called “Your worship”: https://www.judiciary.uk/guidance-and-resources/what-do-i-call-a-judge/. I suppose it might be regarded as a perk of volunteering for the role if that is what floats your boat.
We should consider ourselves lucky we don’t practise in Brazil, where judges are addressed as “Your Excellency”
We should consider ourselves lucky we don’t practise in Brazil, where judges are addressed as “Your Excellency”
Although adopting this practice would be a sure-fire way to increase your success rates at the FtT…
It has been probably more than a decade since I last heard anyone discuss the idea that the great benefit of tribunals was their informality. This is another step along a very sad road indeed.