Page 16 - Judicial Diversity Update report

Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC); and data published by the
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professions and regulators on the potential ‘pool’; and
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b. data collected independently by JUSTICE on the background and
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characteristics of sitting judges in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court,
and High Court, Circuit Bench, section 9(4) Deputy High Court and
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17
19 20
Recorder appointments since 2017.

1.20. In addition to these quantitative analyses we also carried out qualitative
evidence gathering which involved interviewing and corresponding with over
50 individuals and organisations, including the JAC, Judicial Office, the
professional regulators (SRA and BSB), professional organisations (the Law
Society and the Bar Council), members of the judiciary and the legal
profession, academics, and others. With the members of our Working Party,
these individuals provided us with a comprehensive qualitative assessment of
judicial diversity.

14 For the senior appointments made in 2017 and 2018, we have access to the full collected data set,
which includes information on applicants. This is not the case for the appointments announced in the
summer of 2019, as the full data will not be released until 2020. Accordingly, while for some
appointments we can comment on the candidates’ pool, for the most recent appointments our
information is partial.
15 As seen in further detail in the Appendix, data were obtained from official directories, mainly the
Judiciary’s ‘Announcements’ page which publishes appointments of judges to courts and tribunals.
For judges appointed to the High Court and Court of Appeal, there were usually photographed
biographies in addition to the appointment announcements which formed a reliable data source
16 Our analysis is based on the Court of Appeal to July 2019. Since this time, five new judges
(including one woman) have been appointed and three judges (including one woman) have retired.
These developments are not captured in our data analysis in this Update, though they would have an
adverse effect on gender balance and would be neutral on ethnicity and professional background.
Based on the information on the designated webpage for biographies of Court of Appeal justices:
https://www.judiciary.uk/you-and-the-judiciary/going-to-court/court-of-appeal-home/coa-biogs/
17 For some of the appointees, further details could be found in designated High Court webpages, by
division; for example, for biographies of Chancery Division Judges, see here:
https://www.judiciary.uk/subject/chancery-division-judges/
18 See paras 2.9-2.10 on section 9(4) appointments
19 We expanded our outlook to include Recorders and Deputy High Court Judges, because it is crucial
that appointments to these feeder roles are also diverse if the senior judiciary of the future is to be
diverse.
20 For the purpose of this report, we separated out salaried appointments to the Circuit bench and
above, and fee-paid appointments, specifically s. 9.4 Deputy High Court Judge and Recorder; we were
able to undertake a more detailed analysis of the former than the latter.
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