Page 91 - Judicial Diversity Update report

VI. CONCLUSION

We welcome the changes that the JAC have made since the publication of our original
report and the adoption of some of our more minor recommendations. However,
despite these changes, the senior judiciary remains predominantly made up of white,
male, able bodied and privately educated barristers. Whilst there has been some
improvement in respect of gender, it is fragile and there has been negligible
improvement in respect of other underrepresented groups. The picture is likely to be
worse for individuals that belong to more than one of these underrepresented groups
and further data collection and research on intersectionality is required.

As we enter the 2020s we are extremely concerned that the legitimacy of the judiciary
is imperilled by its homogeneity. Representing one of the three pillars of our
democracy, they adjudicate on matters of the gravest constitutional significance.
They can take away people’s liberty, their children, their homes and their rights. That
this power is currently held by such an unrepresentative cohort of judges – however
meritorious – is a matter for acute public concern.

The current approach to judicial diversity is clearly not working. As we have seen
over the past two years, further programmes and initiatives within the current
structures and framework are only likely to produce marginal improvements in
diversity; large scale structural and cultural changes are therefore required to affect
any meaningful improvement in judicial diversity. We believe that cultural change
led by the judicial leadership is urgently required to embed diversity into judicial
culture. Alongside this a system of proper accountability is required to ensure that the
commitment to change is backed up by practical steps and, importantly, results. We
therefore continue to call for the introduction of a targets “with teeth” and the creation
of a permanent “Senior Selection Committee” dedicated to appointments to the Court
of Appeal, Heads of Division and UK Supreme Court, as set out in our original report.

barrister candidates. This highlights that there is currently no significant thinking about recruitment for
potential, at least for solicitors.
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