HOW TO PASS THE MAGISTRATE INTERVIEW
Interview questions and sample answers, expert guidance, and practical advice to help you prepare for the single virtual magistrate interview used in the current selection process in England and Wales.
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PASSING THE MAGISTRATE INTERVIEW
THE MAGISTRATE VIRTUAL INTERVIEW
The magistrate interview is designed to assess whether your experience, judgement, behaviour and motivation are suited to the responsibilities of a magistrate.
You should prepare by understanding the role, reviewing the attributes used throughout recruitment and identifying specific examples from your own experience. Your examples can come from work, volunteering, education, caring responsibilities, community involvement or other parts of your life. What matters is that you can explain what you personally did, why you took that approach, what happened and what you learned.
The panel may ask follow-up questions, so avoid memorising scripts. Aim to understand your examples well enough to discuss them naturally and adapt them to the question you are asked.
THE ATTRIBUTES ASSESSED
The Magistrate Qualifying Assessment is designed around the attributes expected of a magistrate. Understanding these attributes will help you judge which responses are most effective when working through SJT scenarios.
01
Understand and Appreciate Different Perspectives
- Listen to and understand viewpoints that differ from your own.
- Recognise that people come from different backgrounds and circumstances.
- Show empathy without allowing sympathy or personal opinion to replace impartial judgement.
- Avoid assumptions and remain open to information that challenges your initial view.
02
Make Fair, Impartial and Transparent Decisions
- Consider relevant information carefully before reaching a conclusion.
- Keep personal opinions, assumptions and outside influence separate from your decision-making.
- Explain your reasoning clearly and be able to justify how a decision was reached.
- Approach difficult decisions in a balanced, proportionate and consistent way.
03
Communicate With Sensitivity and Respect
- Listen carefully and communicate clearly with people from different backgrounds.
- Remain calm and respectful when situations are difficult, emotional or tense.
- Adapt your communication where someone needs additional support or explanation.
- Maintain appropriate professional boundaries while treating people with dignity.
04
Show Self-Awareness and Be Open to Learning
- Recognise your own limitations, assumptions and areas for development.
- Respond constructively to feedback and be willing to change your approach.
- Ask for clarification or guidance when appropriate.
- Reflect honestly on mistakes, experiences and what you have learned from them.
05
Work and Engage With People Professionally
- Work constructively with other people and respect different viewpoints.
- Contribute confidently without dominating discussions.
- Raise concerns or disagreements calmly and appropriately.
- Support effective teamwork and professional working relationships.
+
Good Character
Good character is a vital requirement and is considered throughout the recruitment process.
- Show integrity, honesty and reliability.
- Understand the importance of confidentiality and appropriate conduct.
- Show genuine motivation and commitment to the responsibilities of the role.
- Behave in a way that supports public trust in the magistracy.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE SJT
When ranking SJT responses, consider which action best reflects these attributes in practice. Focus on the facts provided, avoid unsupported assumptions and think about fairness, impartiality, professionalism, empathy and the wider effect of the response.
PASS YOUR MAGISTRATE INTERVIEW
- Essential guidance for preparing for the virtual magistrate interview.
- How the interview is conducted and what to expect on the day.
- The attributes assessed throughout magistrate recruitment.
- How to choose strong examples from your own work and life experience.
- A simple structure for giving clear, evidence-based interview answers.
- Realistic magistrate interview questions with detailed sample answers.
- How to explain your motivation and understanding of the magistrate role.
- Guidance on fairness, impartiality, communication, self-awareness and professional conduct.
- How to prepare for follow-up questions without memorising scripts.
- Practical preparation advice for a Microsoft Teams interview.
SAMPLE MAGISTRATE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Once you understand the attributes being assessed, you can start preparing the evidence and examples you may use in your answers. Here are some questions we recommend practising:
Q. Why do you want to become a magistrate?
Q. There are plenty of other volunteer roles in society, why choose the role of a magistrate over the others?
Q. Are you able to commit to the required number of sittings as a magistrate and also the initial training?
Q. Tell us about your character? Is it suitable for becoming a magistrate?
Q. What does your family and employer think about you wanting to become a magistrate?
Q. What do you understand about the role of a magistrate?
Learn more about the magistrate interview in the video below, including how to prepare for this stage of the recruitment process:
HOW TO PREPARE STRONG INTERVIEW ANSWERS
Your preparation should focus on giving clear evidence of your suitability for the role. The panel may explore your motivation, your understanding of the magistracy and examples from your own experience.
For experience-based questions, use a simple structure to keep your answer focused:
- Situation: briefly explain the context.
- Task: explain what you were responsible for.
- Action: describe what you personally did and why. This should be the most detailed part of your answer.
- Result: explain what happened.
- Reflection: explain what you learned and what you might do differently now.
Choose examples that contain a genuine decision, challenge, disagreement or communication issue. Your example does not need to be dramatic. It needs to give the panel clear evidence of how you behaved and how your judgement reflects the attributes expected of a magistrate.
Be prepared for follow-up questions. The panel may ask why you chose a particular approach, what alternatives you considered, how another person responded or what you learned from the experience. Understanding your example is much more useful than memorising a polished script.
Prepare for Your Magistrate Interview. With Confidence.
Created for applicants from every background, this guide explains what to expect from the virtual interview and how to prepare strong, evidence-based answers.
WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?
Scoring Criteria
Essential information about how you will be assessed during the interview stage of the selection process.
UP-TO-DATE FOR 2026
All questions have been verified by our interview panel experts for the 2026 interview.
SAMPLE RESPONSES TO EACH INTERVIEW QUESTION
Sample answers to help you build clear, relevant magistrate interview responses based on your own experience.
CAREFULLY CONSTRUCTED RESPONSES
Carefully constructed sample answers that show the structure, depth and reasoning to aim for in your own responses.
INSIDER SECRETS
Practical tips on how to answer the questions and what the panel will be looking for in strong evidence-based responses.
ANSWER-BUILDING STRATEGIES
Use clear, practical techniques to structure relevant answers, explain your reasoning and reflect on your experience.
Customer Success Stories
Having helped 1,000s of people pass their assessment tests for over 16 years, it is no wonder our customers love us…
Good batch of practice questions..
An extremely useful book not only to prepare for interviews but also provides some useful insight into what is required when writing the initial application. Recommended.
If you don’t know what the interview process consists of, this book explains it and provides thoughtful examples to work through and prepare yourself. I had no idea but having read this went in and felt well prepared – I wasn’t surprised by anything that came up on the day. Well worth the money.
WHAT’S INCLUDED IN YOUR DOWNLOAD?
Complete guidance to help you prepare for the magistrate interview.
- Essential advice for preparing for the magistrate interview.
- Realistic magistrate interview questions and detailed sample answers.
- Things to consider during your preparation.
- How to structure strong answers using examples from your own experience.
- Guidance on the attributes assessed during the interview.
- Advice on follow-up questions, reflection and explaining your reasoning.
- Insider tips from career guidance experts.
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✓ The top tips and advice brought to you from serving magistrates;
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