To make money as a magistrate, you don't have to have a legal degree. You will, however, need to have some kind of college education. You also have to demonstrate certain characteristics including availability, reliability, maturity, the ability to be a fair and objective judge, and some others like this. You will also have to demonstrate knowledge of the law. Your knowledge of this field will be determined by interviews that you will undergo. You will have to undergo several interviews before you can be approved to be a magistrate. Part of the interview process will involve you answering questions about what you observed while sitting in on magistrates' court hearings. You only need to sit in on one hearing and that is mainly to help you decide if you really think this is the way that you would like to make money. However, it's in your best interest if you can sit in on three or four of these hearings. This will give you an even better idea if you think this is a good money-making opportunity for you, and it will also help you give better answers in your interviews.
To start this process, you'll need to complete a
registration form for becoming a magistrate. If you don't have any problems that prevent your application from being accepted, you'll be
called in for a first interview. This interview must go well for you to get further interviews. Again, you will need to have a good working knowledge of the law even though you don't need a law degree, and you'll have to be well educated (you'll have to have some kind of college degree). You won't have to worry about answering the questions about sitting in on the magistrate's court for the first interview; that will come later.
Again, during this time, you are to be thinking about whether or not you truly think that you are qualified for this job and that you really want it. The judges who interview you will be looking for signs that you want it as much as indications that you are qualified for it. Your interviewing process might take up to a full year before you are approved to be a magistrate.
Your current employer will be required by law to give you the time that you need to handle magistrate duties if you are approved for the work. They won't be allowed to fire your or cut your pay because of your duty. This is why becoming a magistrate can be a great way to make money for someone who is interested in serving justice and working with legal matters but who doesn't have and perhaps doesn't want a law degree. You will also have to be permitted to attend your training sessions. You can expect your
magistrate training to take up about 20 hours total. You will have to have a job that will enable you to be ready to attend magisterial court—that is, if you have a job that requires you to travel a lot or be on the road a lot, or if you are an important executive who has to put in a lot of hours to get your job done right, you might have to face the fact that you can't be a magistrate.
So, although becoming a magistrate can be a great to make money on the side, you will have to have a motivation that is beyond making money if you're going to be a good magistrate. You should love serving people and helping them with legal matters. You should respect our legal system and wish to see it operate more smoothly. You should work in this profession because you want to see justice served.
