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Judicial assistant takes over Supreme Court Twitter to show what it’s really like working alongside the country’s top judges

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By Katie King on

It’s a lot of reading, but it’s a great experience

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You’d think the highest court in the land would be a pretty daunting place for a rookie lawyer, but a young solicitor advocate took control of the court’s Twitter feed and proved it’s not that scary after all.

Yesterday, Tom Wood — this year’s judicial assistant to Lord Wilson and Lord Hodge — took charge of the Supreme Court’s Twitter account.

Using the hashtag #BeAJudicialAssistant, solicitor advocate Wood gave a blow-by-blow account of life behind the scenes in the country’s most prestigious court — and it looks like there’s even more reading involved than on the LLB.

Wood starts off his morning by doing some last minute prep on the MM case. Before the day’s hearing kicks off, he has a chat about it with a very chilled out looking Lord Wilson.

Then it’s time to see the justices in action.

While the court breaks for lunch, Wood gets a chance to have a natter with the other seven judicial assistants, all of which help out either one or two justices. The lucky lot are all solicitors, barrister or advocates, having qualified before taking up their respective posts at the Supreme Court.

Then in the afternoon it’s back to court for Wood and co, to hear more legal arguments from counsel in the MM case.

Court is adjourned for the day at about 4pm, so then he gets the chance to have a catch up with Lord Hodge about the day’s events.

That’s before Wood takes his place in a dark library to do some more research or maybe some drafting.

We leave a busy Wood at 5pm, so he can go finish off his research.

Working side by side with the country’s top judges has got to be a score for any young lawyer. It’s not surprising that the legal Twitterati’s response to Wood’s day in the life account is a resounding thumbs up.

So is it really as good as it sounds? According to pupil barrister and former judicial assistant Mohsin Zaidi, it’s better.

Zaidi acted as an assistant to Lords Wilson and Sumption in 2013-2014, and described the experience as an “absolute privilege”. A City lawyer at the time, Zaidi spent the year drafting bench memos and press summaries, viewing cases, and doing legal research.

He couldn’t speak highly enough of the experience, and told Legal Cheek:

I had the time of my life.

Being involved in some of the countries most important cases — like Nicklinson and Bull v Hall — was an honour for Zaidi, who went as far as to say:

For a junior lawyer, I cannot think of a better experience in terms of furthering your career than being a judicial assistant at the Supreme Court.