Lay judge

A lay judge, sometimes called a lay assessor, is a person who assists a professional judge in conducting a trial without being a permanent, professionally trained member of the judiciary. Lay judges are used chiefly in civil law jurisdictions, particularly in countries that do not rely on a jury system, and are typically appointed as volunteers who receive some basic legal instruction rather than full legal training. They generally sit only occasionally, such as about once a month, and are compensated modestly or simply have their costs covered rather than drawing a judicial salary. Lay judges may be selected at random for a single case or appointed through a political process, and once seated they usually cannot be challenged or removed by the prosecution, the defense, or the professional judges they sit alongside. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/