Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates
In short: today's best AI models could do about 85% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 94% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 6% of the time, stays with people.
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.
24,030 people do this job in the US. $153,990 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on34 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet4 h
- Stays with people2 h
Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 34 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 4 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 2 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Monitor proceedings to ensure that all applicable rules and procedures are followed (about 8 h); Interpret and enforce rules of procedure or establish new rules in situations where there are no procedures already established by law (about 6 h); Read documents on pleadings and motions to ascertain facts and issues (about 6 h).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 94%
- 6%
- 0%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 28%. Today's estimate: 85%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, 0.011% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 381st largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 1 of its 21 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.048% to 0.037% (released February and March 2025); 0.031% to 0.025% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.011% to 0.011% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.048% | 285 of 708 | 5 of 21 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.037% | 322 of 703 | 5 of 21 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.031% | 304 of 655 | 3 of 21 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.03% | 318 of 672 | 4 of 21 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.025% | 365 of 677 | 4 of 21 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.011% | 363 of 434 | 1 of 21 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.011% | 381 of 447 | 1 of 21 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates almost none of this job's working time as physical work, so robots do not reach it.
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 21 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monitor proceedings to ensure that all applicable rules and procedures are followed.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 22% | 1.7 h25 min to 6.7 h | 88%Half by now | |
| Interpret and enforce rules of procedure or establish new rules in situations where there are no procedures already established by law.Done daily by most who do it. | 18% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | 91%Half by now | |
| Read documents on pleadings and motions to ascertain facts and issues.Done several times a day by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 14% | 1.7 h25 min to 3.3 h | 99%Half by now | |
| Write decisions on cases.Done more than monthly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 10% | 4.2 h1.7 h to 2.1 work days | 79%Half by now | |
| Research legal issues and write opinions on the issues.Done more than weekly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 5% | 5 h2.5 h to 2.5 work days | 80%Half by now | |
| Preside over hearings and listen to allegations made by plaintiffs to determine whether the evidence supports the charges.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 h25 min to 6.7 h | 88%Half by now | |
| Participate in judicial tribunals to help resolve disputes.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 3.3 h50 min to 1 work day | 86%Half by now | |
| Rule on custody and access disputes, and enforce court orders regarding custody and support of children.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 2.1 h38 min to 6.7 h | 93%Half by now | |
| Supervise other judges, court officers, and the court's administrative staff.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 h50 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Grant divorces and divide assets between spouses.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 3% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | 91%Half by now | |
| Advise attorneys, juries, litigants, and court personnel regarding conduct, issues, and proceedings.Done daily by most who do it. | 2% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Settle disputes between opposing attorneys.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 1% | 38 min13 min to 2.5 h | 100%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers82% now, 88% by 2028
- Judicial Law Clerks71% now, 93% by 2028
- Lawyers32% now, 58% by 2028
- Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators63% now, 95% by 2028
- Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists34% now, 37% by 2028
- Equal Opportunity Representatives and Officers51% now, 87% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 85% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 94% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Monitor proceedings to ensure that all applicable rules and procedures are followed (88% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Interpret and enforce rules of procedure or establish new rules in situations where there are no procedures already established by law (91% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); and Read documents on pleadings and motions to ascertain facts and issues (99% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Supervise other judges, court officers, and the court's administrative staff; Advise attorneys, juries, litigants, and court personnel regarding conduct, issues, and proceedings; and Instruct juries on applicable laws, direct juries to deduce the facts from the evidence presented, and hear their verdicts. Together such tasks are about 6% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.011% went to this job's tasks, the 381st largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 1 of its 21 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 31%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds almost none of the working time is physical work, so robots do not reach it.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 21 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
This job in your state or metro area
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.
Your own version of this job
The page above is the occupation. Your job is your title and what you actually do: give both, and they are read against these tasks in your browser, nothing sent anywhere. The headline is free: how much of your working time is within reach now and by the end of 2028, and how many of the tasks your description names.
This occupation has not been reviewed task by task yet, so the full personal report is not offered for it; 402 of 923 occupations are reviewed so far, largest first.