Page 13 - Judicial Diversity Update report

they can discuss particular aspects of a case before them. The narrow
demographic of the existing judiciary inevitably leads to a narrowing of
experience and knowledge. Ensuring a diverse range of perspectives requires
looking beyond appointments primarily from the independent Bar and
recruiting individuals with diverse professional backgrounds – solicitors,
Chartered Legal Executives, academics and government and in-house lawyers.
Not only do these pools tend to be more diverse in terms of ethnicity, gender
and social background, but their different training and practical experience will
also result in valuable cognitive diversity.

1.13. The consequence of not recruiting from a wide enough pool is necessarily that
the institution is not benefiting from the best available talent. As Lord
Neuberger has asked: “why are 80 per cent or 90 per cent of judges male? It
suggests, purely on a statistical basis, that we do not have the best people
because there must be some women out there who are better than the less good
men who are judges.” The same is, of course, true in relation to other
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characteristics.

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1.14. Finally, changing the make-up of our courts is vital to ensure fairness. It is
important that structural and hidden barriers to appointment are removed and
that our judges are selected through fair selection processes that do not
inadvertently disadvantage or advantage certain demographic groups.
Significant overrepresentation of a certain group calls into question the
objectivity of the current system and its ability to recruit varied talent. Talented
individuals need to be given effective opportunities to demonstrate their
abilities and realise their potential. The very existence of a more diverse
judiciary will serve to encourage a broader range of applicants for future
judicial appointment.

9 House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution, Oral evidence, 16 November 2011, Qu 251,
cited in E. Rackley, Women, Judging and the Judiciary: From Difference to Diversity, (Routledge
Cavendish, 2012), p.193.
10 Helen Mountfield has recently noted “on the assumption that legal aptitude is broadly equally
distributed between men and women, between people of different racial groups and different social
backgrounds, we are obviously missing out if we end up only with a particular sub-set of them.” See:
Judicial Diversity: Speech for Canadian Judges, Queen’s College Cambridge, 2 July 2019, page 24.
11 C. Thomas, Judicial Diversity in the UK and Other Jurisdictions, A Review of Research, Policies
and Practices, The Commission for Judicial Appointments, November 2005, available online at
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/judicial-institute/sites/judicial-
institute/files/judicial_diversity_in_the_uk_and_other_jurisdictions.pdf
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