Page 26 - Judicial Diversity Update report

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Notes on the pool

2.18. Data on the two major pools for senior judicial appointments, the solicitors’
profession and the Bar, are collected by their respective regulators. It is worth
49
remembering that there are currently 149,005 practising solicitors and only
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around 16,600 practising barristers – meaning that solicitors outnumber
barristers 9 to 1. The two professions vary in their composition and in the
barriers and incentives that members face when considering a judicial career.

2.19. There are high levels of attrition of women from the Bar. The 2018 BSB data
shows that whilst half of all pupils are women, women constitute 37.4% of
those practising at the Bar overall and just 15.8% of Queens Counsel (QCs).
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This is an issue for gender diversity in the judiciary, given that currently a high
proportion of judges in senior courts are drawn from the upper echelons of the
independent Bar.

2.20. Whilst the solicitors’ profession is more diverse than the bar in terms of gender,
the statistics also demonstrate an issue with attrition. 59% of solicitors in firms
are women, however women comprise only 33% of partners, a figure that drops
to 29% in very large firms.
52 53

48 Obviously each judicial exercise requires certain and varied number of years of post-qualification
experience to be eligible for appointment, meaning that the profession as a whole does not represent the
profession. The Notes on the pool section represents a broad sense of the pool.
49 ‘Population of solicitors in England and Wales’, Solicitors Regulation Authority, available online at
https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/how-we-work/reports/statistics/regulated-community-
statistics/data/population_solicitors/
50 ‘Statistics on practising barristers’, Bar Standard Board, available online at
https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/news-publications/research-and-statistics/statistics-about-the-
bar/practising-barristers.html
51 Bar Standards Board, Diversity at the Bar 2018, February 2019, available at
https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/uploads/assets/db991bde-ddbc-4869-
81838f74a1c1cd69/diversityatthebar2018.pdf
52 ‘How diverse are law firms?’, Solicitors Regulation Authority, available online at
https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/equality-diversity/key-findings/law-firms-2017/.
53 ‘Very large firms’ refers to firms with 50 or more partners.
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