Sitting in Judgment

The public image of judges has been stuck in a time warp; they are invariably depicted in the media - and derided in public bars up and down the country - as ''privately educated Oxbridge types'', usually ''out-of-touch'', and more often than not as ''old men''. These and other stereotypes - the judge as a pervert, the judge as a right-wing monster - have dogged the judiciary long since any of the...