Page 42 - Judicial Diversity Update report

2018-2019, although barristers comprised 31% of applicants, they constituted
59% of appointees, therefore they were appointed at significantly higher rates
than solicitors.
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Circuit bench and High Court

2.51. In respect of the Circuit bench and High Court, we are encouraged that in 2018-
2019, the recommendations for solicitors were roughly in line with their
application rates. However, we remain concerned that their application
numbers as a proportion of the estimated pool remain low and the relative
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success rates compared with barristers remain poor. We are also concerned
that 2018-19 may be an anomalous year due to what we know so far regarding
the 2019-2020 High Court appointments. Whilst we don’t yet know the
number or proportion of solicitors who applied, of the 16 new High Court
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judges for 2019-2020 (one announcement remaining), all so far are barristers.

2.52. In JUSTICE’s own analysis of the Circuit bench appointments (2017-2019),
intersecting professional background with age and experience reveals a
statistically significant difference between solicitors and barristers in terms of
their age at the time of appointment, with solicitors 3.5 years older than
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barristers upon appointment.

2.53. There was also a statistically significant difference between barristers and
solicitors in terms of the total number of judicial roles that they had held before
being appointed to the Circuit bench, with solicitors tending to hold more
previous roles. Of a total of 87 judges who had only had one judicial role prior
to appointment, only five were solicitors or of a mixed professional
background (6%), while 94% were barristers.

94 The equivalent RRI for ‘ever solicitor: ever barrister’ was only slightly better, but at 0.55 still
indicates significantly higher recommendation rates for barristers.
95 For the High Court. We note that the JAC has been unable to estimate the eligible pool of solicitors
for the Circuit bench.
96 ‘High Court Judges 2019’, Judicial Appointments Commission,
https://www.judicialappointments.gov.uk/high-court-judges-2019; it will not be known until the
release of the annual statistics exactly how many solicitors applied.
97 This might help to explain why former solicitors left the judiciary in higher numbers, i.e. they
reached retirement age more quickly than former barristers.
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