What is it like to be a judge? Is judging an art, or is there a method to it? Can anyone, whatever their background, be taught to do it well? These are the central questions of this highly accessible book. Sir Peter Coulson, who has sat at almost every level from Recorder to the Court of Appeal, argues that what he calls ‘judgecraft’ can be learned through experience, and that it can also be taught. The Practice of Judging pulls back the curtain to show how the modern judge really thinks, with forthright guidance on the actual experience of judging: managing a courtroom, handling counsel, writing a judgment, passing sentence. It is also unflinching about what judging costs and what the system now lacks, from crumbling courts to the pressures on those who work in them. Coulson writes with candour, directness and self-deprecation, and his ‘ten rules for beginners’ – from ‘be yourself’ to ‘be kind’ – are deeply human. The book is for anyone who wants to become a judge; for serving judges, because even the most experienced can learn from colleagues; for barristers who want to know how judges actually reach their decisions; and for all those interested in the judicial process, including law students, academics and the general public. Sir Peter Coulson is a passionate evangelist for the life of the judge. It is, he writes, ‘quite simply, the best job in the world’.