Page 44 - Judicial Diversity Update report

Recorder exercise increased to 7%, indicating a slight improvement above a
very poor baseline.

2.58. In 2018 just 10% of the s. 9(4) Deputy High Court judges appointed were
solicitors. 100 The most recent competition 101 involved 24 appointments,
including six solicitors (25%). This is an encouraging result though it is
concerning that all six were white male partners in big City law firms. Our
analysis of both 2019 exercises indicates that solicitor appointees display less
gender diversity than the existing solicitor pool.

Court of Appeal and Supreme Court

2.59. Since our last report, one former solicitor was appointed to the Court of
Appeal, only the second former solicitor to be appointed to the Court and the
only one currently sitting at this level. Typifying the convoluted route of
102
solicitors into the senior courts, Sir Gary Hickinbottom held ten judicial roles
– fee-paid and salaried, in tribunals and courts – and three leadership positions
103
prior to joining the Court of Appeal.

2.60. Of the nine English and Welsh judges appointed to the Supreme Court since
our last report, none have been solicitors or ‘ever solicitors’.

Conclusions on professional background

2.61. Since 1972, JUSTICE has urged the appointment of solicitors to the higher
courts of England and Wales. Not only do solicitors offer different experiences
and perspectives to the role of judging – cognitive diversity – as a profession,

100 ‘Deputy High Court Judges 2019’, Judicial Appointments Commission, available online at
https://www.judicialappointments.gov.uk/deputy-high-court-judges-2019; Deputy High Court Judges
2018, Judicial Appointments Commission, available online at
https://www.judicialappointments.gov.uk/deputy-high-court-judges-2018
101 Announced November 2019
102 The first was Lawrence Collins, Lord Collins of Mapesbury. He sat in the Court of Appeal between
2007-2009, at which point he succeeded Lord Hoffman in the House of Lords (as it then was).
103 ‘Biographies of the Court of Appeal judges’, Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, available online at
https://www.judiciary.uk/you-and-the-judiciary/going-to-court/court-of-appeal-home/coa-biogs/
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