Judges' new designer look

16th, May 2008

Judges will be shedding their wigs and donning designer robes.

Breaking from 300 years of tradition, civil judges serving in open court will be losing their wigs, wing collars and bands. And wearing a new Betty Jackson robe.

The robes will appear in courts from 1 October 2008 and are being made by graduation gown suppliers based in London and County Durham.

The new-gown-wearers will include Court of Appeal and High Court judges, Circuit Judges sitting as deputy High Court judges in family and civil cases. The circuit bench have chosen to retain their old gown for civil cases but they won’t be required to wear their wig, wing collar and bands.

There will be an initial outlay of an estimated £200,000 for the new gowns but moving towards one robe and no longer needing to pay an allowance for full-bottomed wigs should give an annual saving in of £300,000.

Speaking to Legal & Medical a judiciary spokesman said that the robes would be sent to judges 'incrementally' and orders will be taken between now and the launch date.

Judges will wear coloured bands to identify their seniority (this design was picked by a judicial working group.

The chosen colours are:

Heads of Division and Appeal Court judges – gold
High Court judges – red
Circuit Judges (sitting as deputy High Court judges) – lilac
District Judges – blue

The colour for Masters and Registrars is still being decided.

Judges' new designer look

Judges will be shedding their wigs and donning designer robes.

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