Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🪑 A substitute ⚖️ A senior judge
bencher

bencher

9.9
A senior lawyer who helps run a law group and discipline other lawyers
  • noun
  • /ˈbɛn.tʃər/
  • Jargon
translation icon : miembro del consejo
  • He was honored to be elected as a bencher by his peers in the legal profession.

Examples

  • The bencher presided over the disciplinary hearing for the young barrister.

  • After years of distinguished service, she became a bencher at Lincoln's Inn.

  • The bencher announced new regulations for barristers.

  • Two benchers were elected last week.

  • The bencher presided over the disciplinary hearing for the junior barrister.

  • As a bencher at the Inn of Court, she was responsible for maintaining the standards of professional conduct.

  • The newly appointed bencher took his seat at the table, ready to guide the upcoming barristers.

Surface Forms

bencher singular
benchers plural

Morphology

bencher = bench (opaque) = bench + er

Although historically connected to 'bench' + '-er', the institutional legal meaning is specialized and not readily predictable from the base word alone.

Etymology

The word bencher also comes from bench, which in law means the 'judge's seat'. So a legal bencher is a senior person who sits with the judges or helps run the lawyers' group, which is why they have authority over other lawyers.