41100 Judges

What this occupation covers

Judges adjudicate civil and criminal cases and administer justice in courts of law. Judges preside over federal and provincial courts.

Official main duties

The NOC profile lists 9 main duties for this code.

• Preside over courts of law, interpret and enforce rules of procedure and make rulings regarding the admissibility of evidence
• Instruct the jury on laws that are applicable to the case
• Weigh and consider evidence in non-jury trials and decide legal guilt or innocence or degree of liability of the accused or defendant
• Pass sentence on persons convicted in criminal cases and determine damages or other appropriate remedy in civil cases
• Grant divorces and divide assets between spouses
• Determine custody of children between contesting parents and other guardians
• Enforce court orders for access or support
• Supervise other judges and court officers.
• Judges may specialize in particular areas of law such as civil, criminal or family law.

Do not copy these lines into your reference letter. The letter has to describe what you actually did, in your employer’s words. DUTYPROOF flags wording lifted from the NOC as something to review, and an officer reading a letter that mirrors the NOC reads it the same way.

What DUTYPROOF screens for

This is DUTYPROOF’s screening threshold, not IRCC’s decision. For this NOC, screening requires at least 2 of its 9 official duties to be evidenced in your own words, plus the required letter elements. IRCC asks that you performed the actions in the occupation’s lead statement and a substantial number of its main duties — so treat the duty coverage as the number that matters, not the badge.

Codes this one is confused with

The NOC profile names these itself. Choosing the wrong code of a look-alike pair is the most common way genuine work experience fails to establish eligibility.

• 40010 Government managers - health and social policy development and program administration
• 42200 Paralegals and related occupations

Excluded from this code

• Administrative tribunal judge - government services (See 40010 Government managers - health and social policy development and program administration)
• Citizenship judge (See 42200 Paralegals and related occupations)
• Justice of the peace (See 42200 Paralegals and related occupations)

Job titles filed under this code

A title on this list does not by itself put your experience in this code — the duties in your letter decide that.

administrative judge · appellate court judge · associate chief justice · chief justice · county court judge · county judge · Court of Queen's Bench justice · deputy justice · district and surrogate court judge · district court judge · family court judge · federal court justice · federal court justice - trial division · Federal Court of Appeal justice · federal trial court justice · judge - law · justice · juvenile court judge · magistrate court judge · probate court judge · provincial court judge · provincial court of appeal justice · provincial supreme court justice · puisne judge

Employment requirements

• Extensive experience as a lawyer or as a professor of law with continuous membership in the bar association is usually required.
• Membership in good standing with a provincial or territorial law society or bar association is required.
• Judges are appointed by federal or provincial cabinets.
• Those appointed to more senior positions in a court, such as chief justice, usually have experience as judges in that court.