Page 68 - Judicial Diversity Update report

On average, it took appointees 28 years from the time they had been admitted
as solicitors or called to the Bar. On average, they were appointed to the Circuit
Bench seven years after their last appointment to another judicial role.

3.6. The most commonly held role of Circuit bench appointees prior to appointment
was that of Recorder (59%). As Recorders sit as fee-paid Circuit judges, it
follows that this is the most common route onto the Circuit Bench. District
Judge (salaried or fee paid) was the second most commonly held role prior to
appointment (29%), with only 5% of appointments made directly from the
Tribunals.

3.7. However, our analysis in Chapter One reveals that only 21% of the current
cohort of Recorders are women, with many fewer BAME and solicitor
Recorders. All three groups have struggled to be appointed in Recorder
exercises since 2017, therefore as the most direct pathway to the Circuit bench,
it is not facilitating greater diversity.

3.8. Our analysis shows that barristers were significantly more likely than solicitors
to sit as Recorders prior to appointment (75% of those who were Recorders
prior to appointment were barristers). They were also statistically more likely
to have been in a fee-paid role and to have held only one other judicial role
prior to appointment. 94% of those in this category were barristers. This
includes the three judges appointed straight from practice who were all
barristers.

3.9. By comparison, solicitors were more likely to have held a salaried position
before appointment – accounting for the majority of those who were District
and Deputy District Judges prior to appointment – and to have held more than
one previous judicial role.

3.10. The data therefore paints a picture of two distinct routes to the Circuit bench.
Barristers stay in practice, sit fee-paid as a Recorder and rarely require other
sitting experience. Solicitors tend to leave practice for a salaried role as a
District Judge, with a number having earlier held fee-paid roles, either as a
Deputy District Judge or – less commonly – in a First Tier Tribunal.

https://www.judicialappointments.gov.uk/sites/default/files/sync/about_the_jac/official_statistics/statis
tics-bulletin-jac-2018-19.pdf.

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