Job Check
Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates
Arbitrate, advise, adjudicate, or administer justice in a court of law. May sentence defendant in criminal cases according to government statutes or sentencing guidelines. May determine liability of defendant in civil cases. May perform wedding ceremonies.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Sentence defendants in criminal cases, on conviction by jury, according to applicable government statutes.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 02Monitor proceedings to ensure that all applicable rules and procedures are followed.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 03Instruct juries on applicable laws, direct juries to deduce the facts from the evidence presented, and hear their verdicts.Mostly human for now
- 04Write decisions on cases.People already use AI for this at work
- 05Read documents on pleadings and motions to ascertain facts and issues.People already use AI for this at work
- 06Rule on admissibility of evidence and methods of conducting testimony.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 07Preside over hearings and listen to allegations made by plaintiffs to determine whether the evidence supports the charges.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 08Award compensation for damages to litigants in civil cases in relation to findings by juries or by the court.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 09Advise attorneys, juries, litigants, and court personnel regarding conduct, issues, and proceedings.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 10Research legal issues and write opinions on the issues.People already use AI for this at work
Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.
Four studies, side by side
None is a forecast of job loss31%of this job’s work time goes to tasks that people already do with Claude at work, counting tasks where AI only helps as half (2026).Anthropic, 2026
42%of this job’s tasks an AI model could do in half the time, counting tasks that need extra tools as half (rated in 2023).Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, 2023
Above 21% of jobsin how often and how well AI helped with this job’s work in Microsoft Copilot chats (2024 data).Microsoft Research (Tomlinson et al.), 2025
Your human edge
The main tasks with no real AI use seen and no big speed-up expected. This is where your skill counts most today.
- Instruct juries on applicable laws, direct juries to deduce the facts from the evidence presented, and hear their verdicts.