Stop everything: There’s now a judge and gavel emoji

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By Katie King on

Our prayers have been answered

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Emoticon-lovers of the world came together today to celebrate a new, law-themed addition to the emoji family.

Law emojis have experienced a turbulent history: while the scales of justice emoji has long taken pride of place in the smartphone keyboard, its gavel counterpart was cruelly taken from law students and lawyers without warning via an update.

The feelings of betrayal were intense.

But now it seems the emoticon gods have answered our prayers. Blood, sweat, tears and a Legal Cheek petition later, a new judge emoji is now available for iPhone, Android and Twitter users.

So, it’s not quite the gavel we asked for but — interestingly — Apple specifically has treated its users to a hammer-wielding judge, which is maybe even better than just a gavel. By contrast, Twitter and Android have opted for a less gavelly, more United Kingdom-friendly version.

Naturally, Twitter went wild over the news.

Maybe 2016 hasn’t been THAT bad then after all…