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What serving magistrates say

How you can benefit from being a magistrate

Watch a video on what you can get out of being a magistrate

• Video: becoming a magistrate - how you can benefit

Alika Gupta - programme leader

"If I were a defendant myself, I'd like to be tried and sentenced by someone with common sense and who could relate to my situation. I consider myself fortunate because I've been given the privilege of representing the common person in the judicial system."

Grantley Yearwood - aircraft technician

"I think they wanted a bit more cultural input when deliberating about young people of ethnic origins. I get a sense of satisfaction from serving the local community and from adjudicating. It helps ensure that people in society are being treated fairly for the way they live."

Geoff Pinney - laboratory manager

"It has taught me an awful lot. I get to consider a range of people and events that I don't normally come across. Everyone brings a different set of problems into court, and you have to keep an eye on the human aspects behind the offending behaviour."

Yusuf Patel - admin officer

"It can be very challenging, but rewarding. Good common sense, good note-taking and a decent memory are qualities which are useful also. Any competent person can be a magistrate."

Jenny Kerr - self-employed conference organiser

"I now sit on the youth bench as well as the adult bench and I find doing youth work incredibly rewarding. I really feel we can make a difference. As a magistrate you are mixing with very like-minded people and you don't need a legal background - just lots of common sense."

Manjit Singh Buttar - group station manager

"Becoming a magistrate was a way of me doing more to represent the Sikh community and give something back to the nation as a whole. My employer has been very supportive. Every year I get 18 full days with pay to sit in court and my manager is very flexible. At work I manage people and I'm also a mentor both at work and for other magistrates. So the two roles really complement each other."

Diana Chitty - partner at solicitors

"I'm a working mother so I have the family, the job and the magistracy to deal with. I have to juggle my timetable a bit. But the senior partners recognise it's a worthwhile thing to do, as long as I get my work done. I also thoroughly enjoy serving - it's incredibly rewarding and interesting and I feel it matters. It's the most important thing I do after looking after my children."