Also called: Court of Appeals Judge, Appellate Justice
Reviews decisions made by trial courts to decide whether the law was applied correctly.
Appellate judges don't hear witnesses. They read long briefs, listen to lawyers argue for 15-30 minutes, then meet with fellow judges to vote. Much of their time goes into writing opinions that other courts must follow.
State appellate judges typically $150-230k; federal circuit judges ~$258k.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Professional degree (MD, JD, DVM…), about 20 years after high school. Bachelor's, JD, bar license, and usually 10-15+ years as a practicing lawyer before appointment or election.
Ways in: 4-year college, Professional school. Training cost: Over $150k.
Majors to look at: Political Science, Philosophy, English, History.
Growing slowly (about 1% over 10 years). BLS judges overall.
Low risk for 10 years. AI can draft bench memos and find precedent; deciding what the law means and writing binding opinions stays human.
Classes: AP English Language, AP U.S. Government, AP U.S. History, Latin or a world language.
Official data: O*NET occupation 23-1023.
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