The Bar Council has called on the legal profession to work together to make the judiciary more diverse, following “unacceptable” statistics released by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC).
JAC published figures this week for appointments from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016. Some 2,439 candidates applied during 22 selection exercises, from which 308 recommendations for judicial appointment were made.
Women made up 140 of 308 recommendations (45%). Black and minority ethic (BAME) candidates represented 387 applications (16%) and 28 recommendations (9%).
However, the Bar Council said the figures showed BAME candidates were more likely to be excluded at both the shortlisting and recommendations stages of the Recorder process.
Sam Mercer, head of equality and diversity at the Bar Council, says 20% of white applicants for Recorder appointments were shortlisted, compared to 10% of BAME candidates. Of those shortlisted, 46% of white applicants were recommended, compared to 29% of BAME applicants.
