Women also make up 23% of judges in the Court of Appeal and 27% in the High Court as well as more than half the non-legal members of tribunals. The figures, released this week, are correct as at 1 April 2019.
The future looks more evenly matched between the sexes―about half of court judges below the age of 50 years old are women, and women outnumber men among tribunal judges aged 40-49 (54% women) and 50-59 (52% women).
In the most recent year of appointments, 2018–19, 45% of the 143 judges in court appointed to a senior judicial role were women.
One third of court judges come from a non-barrister background, whether solicitor, CILEx or another route. This figure rises to nearly two-thirds for tribunal judges.
BAME (black and minority ethnic) representation among court judges is lower than in the general population as a whole, although more BAME judges are joining the judiciary than leaving it. BAME representation among tribunal judges matches the general population.
As far as magistrates are concerned, more than half are women (56%), 12% are BAME and just over half are 60 years old or above.
Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice, in a joint statement with Sir Ernest Ryder, the senior president of tribunals, said they were ‘encouraged to see that the number of women judges (in both the courts and tribunals) and non-legal tribunal members has increased.
‘The Judicial Diversity Committee, chaired by Lady Justice Hallett, has set out the steps it plans to take over the next 12 months to reach a more diverse pool of lawyers and focus its efforts on attracting new talent and supporting career progression. Amongst other measures, the committee is working to support and encourage solicitors to join the judiciary.’
Lord Burnett and Sir Ernest said under-represented groups will be given support to become judges through the pre-application judicial education programme, which was launched in April by the government, judiciary, Judicial Appointments Commission and professional bodies.
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