EFFORTS to increase diversity among the judiciary must be sped up after a new report showed only slight improvements in the number of women and ethnic minority judges.
The most recent statistics show that women currently make up 37 per cent of judges in courts as opposed to 54 per cent of judges in tribunals.
Just 67 Black judges make up the whole of the judiciary, constituting just 1.27 per cent of the total, an increase of just 0.01 percent from 2022.
In the previous decade, the percentage of ethnic minorities among barristers rose from 13 per cent to 16 per cent, that of solicitors from 15 per cent to 19 per cent, that of chartered legal executives from five per cent to 11 per cent, and that of judges overall rose from seven per cent to 11 per cent.
“There has been some progress in improving judicial diversity in the courts but more needs to be done. Women still only make up just over a third of judges. The proportion of the judiciary from a non-barrister background remains persistently low despite solicitors making up the majority of applicants,” said Lubna Shuja, president of the Law Society of England and Wales.
“The selection process needs to be urgently reformed. The requirement to consult sitting judges on candidates’ suitability, known as ‘statutory consultation’, must be reviewed with serious consideration given to removing it altogether, as it is not working fairly or transparently at the moment.”
The data also show that ethnic minority candidates made up 16 per cent of the eligible pool and 16 per cent of recommendations throughout all judicial proceedings in 2022–2023.
Even while the percentage of solicitor judges climbed slightly – to 32 per cent from 31 per cent in 2022 – it is still less than in 2014, when they made up 37 per cent of the judges.
The data from the ministry revealed that there is disparity for solicitors in legal judicial selection exercises compared to barristers; solicitors (48 per cent) made up more of the applications than barristers (35 per cent), but constituted a smaller percentage of the recommendations for appointment (35 per cent compared to 50 per cent of barristers).
Shuja said: “As recommended by the independent review which the Judicial Diversity Forum commissioned, all members should now set measurable impact targets, share underlying data to ensure activities are effective and have selection processes that appropriately recognise and weigh the experience and transferable skills of solicitors.”
Additionally, she advised creating a professional path from tribunals to courts.
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