MOJ Trainee Legal Advisor - Magistrates Court - 2022

Has anyone done the interview before? I have one in a couple of days. Is anyone able to help on how to do well in the legal based scenario?
Thank you

Has anyone done the interview before? I have one in a couple of days. Is anyone able to help on how to do well in the legal based scenario?
Thank you

Had an email today saying the application was being processed - this is for the South West Region.

I have an interview coming up too! Please xould you share some pointers please x

I’m tickled that this question has been asked over and over again on different threads and even those who claim to have been successful never return to assist. Let me step into that breach.
It’s been awhile I attended my own interview and I’ve been in the job for over three years but here are some pointers for the legal scenario: it might be on anything but ultimately they want to test your understanding of speedy justice: you will be given a factual scenario from which they will tease out questions on law, evidence and procedure. Procedure is often the bit that people fall down on. So for example (when) will you advice a case is adjourned? Will you advice an adjournment for a defendant to sort out legal aid? I strongly suggest you visit your local magistrates court and observe remand hearings. On the interview itself look very closely at the advertisement, they’d have clearly identified the competences they want to examine at interview. Be ready to provide an example using the STAR or similar structure: what was the situation, task, your action and result. Use this for any question you’re asked: give us an example of a time you’ve dealt with a conflict etc. On my interview the legal scenario was marked separately and no follow up questions came at the interview. It was just a grilling on all the competences. Hope the foregoing assists. My one solid advice is that you visit your local magistrates court. For me, what I saw during my visits helped me immensely to effectively deal with the scenario questions. Good luck.

Thank you so much for the insight! This will seem really ignorant but when you say visit the court, how would one go about it? Are there court cases open to the public which you can sit in?

I have been out of the law game for a while, what advice would you give in terms of prepping for legal knowledge that might be tested?

Thank you again

You’re very welcome.
The criminal courts are public courts so unless it’s a youth court or a sensitive hearing then anyone can go in. Just turn up - security officers in most magistrates courts are fantastic and will point you to the “interesting” courtrooms. My one advice is that you try the door knob or push the door; if it gives way then you can go in. Also speak to the ushers or list callers when you gain entry to the building as again, they’ll know what’s worth watching. Note that at this level you want to concentrate on your local magistrates’ court; no need yet for crown court observation. So attend your local magistrates court (or what now counts as local as so many courthouses have shut down) - if yours is in an area with little crime then go to a location with lots. (No offence intended to anyone). Try to see a domestic abuse GAP and NGAP court (GAP = guilty anticipated plea; NGAP = not guilty anticipated plea). The domestic court offers fantastic insight into almost everything you could possibly need to learn - from allocation decisions,to how cases are prepped for trial, adjournments to sentencing. And if you’re thinking, “what the heck are these labels”, then you need to go to your local court, quickly

On legal knowledge, that’s quite tricky. It’s not like the CPS interview where they often like to test on particular offences. What you need for this job are lawyering skills. Trust me, so long as you’re able to think critically and are familiar with offences such as assault (common assault/assault by beating) and the like, you’ll be ok. Again, please and please go and visit your local magistrates court. It’s similar to going through an entire syllabus by working through past questions instead of reading the text book from start to finish! (I know what I’m talking about as I lecture part time too so I know how students study and can study). By the time you’ve sat in a busy court for one week, I doubt that there’s any question they’ll ask you that you won’t be able to answer. Oh! Another thing. Go to your Inn library (if you’re a bar student) or the Law Society library if you’re an LPC student and try to familiarise yourself with the look and feel of ‘Stones’ (no, not the stuff on the ground; it’s the tome we use in the magistrates court). Yes, you were deceived! Seasoned lawyers in the magistrates court use Stones; newly qualified use Blackstones but don’t throw your blackstones away - it’s like the practitioners nutshells, only, one thousand times better. Anyway I digress! Familiarise yourself with Stones because for the test you’ll be given a copy of Stones and I promise you, volume 1 or 2 to 3 are not the sort of stuff you want to be staring at an interview for the first time in your life. The sheer size of it and the font could shrivel up what ideas you had!

Hope the above helps. A.

A, you don’t understand how glad I am to have come across your post. This helps so much it’s pointed me in the right direction, I now have an idea on what I need to focus on in order to prep. I booked my interview slot for the latest possible which was 20/06.

unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be able to visit the court for a week due to work commitments but I am definitely going to try and get in for a day at least.

when you referred to the oracle of knowledge that is the ‘stone’ were you referring to butterworth stones justice manual, I found this on lexis nexus.

luckily some of the terms you mentioned above do ring a bell and I have all my uni and post grad textbooks so I’ll familiar myself with offences/sentencing for the magistrates.

I know it’s been a few years since you had this assessment and Interview but did you get any pack or documents to review beforehand for the assessment?

My final question would be if possible please could you give me a list of motions/areas that a legal trainee will regularly come across, you mentioned assault but anything else?

Again thank you soo much! And I can see the teaching experience you made it so concise and informative. I basically need to channel you during the assessment stage.

Hey congratulations, which region did you apply for.

Thank you! I applied for the North West lot. Did you also apply?

A, you don’t understand how glad I am to have come across your post. This helps so much it’s pointed me in the right direction, I now have an idea on what I need to focus on in order to prep. I booked my interview slot for the latest possible which was 20/06.

unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be able to visit the court for a week due to work commitments but I am definitely going to try and get in for a day at least.

when you referred to the oracle of knowledge that is the ‘stone’ were you referring to butterworth stones justice manual, I found this on lexis nexus.

luckily some of the terms you mentioned above do ring a bell and I have all my uni and post grad textbooks so I’ll familiar myself with offences/sentencing for the magistrates.

I know it’s been a few years since you had this assessment and Interview but did you get any pack or documents to review beforehand for the assessment?

My final question would be if possible please could you give me a list of motions/areas that a legal trainee will regularly come across, you mentioned assault but anything else?

Again thank you soo much! And I can see the teaching experience you made it so concise and informative. I basically need to channel you during the assessment stage.

lilly99066
Yes, Butterworth’s “Stone’s Justices’ Manual” is the ‘Stones’ I referred to.

No, I was not sent texts/documents or any bumf to read.

As to list of motions/areas, I’ll say this: don’t fret. It’ll be an open book test. You’ll be given your test question together with a copy of the criminal procedural rules and Stones. This is why I encourage that you get a physical feel for the latter. There’s nothing more daunting than knowing the ‘answer’ to a question is in a huge book right in front of you but you don’t know where to start. So whilst it reads well on Lexis, it’ll be like a foreign object in its physical form unless you’re unusual in memorising the index page on Lexis to help you with the physical book …but still, I recommend that you get the book and test your ability to use it.

Oh also, the criminal procedure rules can be found on the www. Google it. At your stage the most important rules are in parts 1, 3 and 9. (And perhaps, 14) Learn and understand them.
In addition to rule 14, brush up on the law on bail and the grounds/reasons under which they’ll be granted. I’ll be surprised if there’s no question on bail.

You’ll also need to know your Allocation guidelines (previously known as, MOT); know the common offences so that you can immediately tell whether it’s Summary or Either Way or Indictable only. They might well be cruel and ask questions to identify whether you’re able to pick up either way offences that become indictable only such as the dwelling burglar who’s now committed his third dwelling house burglary but again, these are things covered by most vocational law courses. Also don’t forget that even if you don’t know, there’ll be a resource (Stones and the Rules) to help you although I accept that there is an element of, ‘if you don’t know’, then you don’t know but in that regard I’ll simply suggest that you check your response against the resource provided if you’re in doubt. Again, what is being tested is your critical reasoning skills. You’ll be left in a room by yourself but don’t be tempted to text anyone for the answer - its not worth being found out and these things always come out. Don’t forget the nature of the role is to advice the magistrate so the vast majority of legal scenario questions will be just that - what’ll be your advice. As I said initially, you’ll be given one scenario from which they’ll spin out lots of questions covering not just law but evidence and procedure.
Best of luck

Thank you thank you! You’ve given me loads to work on so now all I need to do is put my head down.

And I just realised my interview is online so I wonder how they will format the assessment part of it.

Ooh I don’t know the answer to that last question but hopefully someone who’s recently completed their assessment can advice how that’ll take place. Other employers simply give you a timed piece after which it expires so I suppose it may be the same. Others lock the screen to see what you’re doing but I don’t think we have the money for that type of software! Given it’s an open book exercise it may be that more than ever your reasoning skills will be assessed. I’ll nose around and if I find an answer I’ll ping it here.