In a statement last week, Lord Burnett said he hoped his successor would be announced in the summer to allow for an effective handover period. By the time he steps down he will have served longer than any of his predecessors since Lord Lane in the 1980s.
The Lord Chancellor will now ask the chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission to establish the statutory appointments panel.
On his time in office, Lord Burnett said: ‘We have transformed judicial welfare and education and introduced professional support which was lacking in the old arrangements inherited… We have become much more active in local communities and schools and have a diversity and inclusion strategy which will continue to deliver results.’ He praised the judiciary’s ‘magnificent’ response to COVID-19 but warned there remain difficulties in recruiting to some judicial offices.
