Ministry of Justice shake-up to broaden judicial pool
High Court and Court of Appeal judges will be able to work part-time, under new Ministry of Justice (MoJ) proposals to improve judicial diversity.
The proposals aim to reverse the trend for judges to be drawn from a narrow pool of white, privately-educated men and attract talent from a broader base.
Lady Hale is the only woman among the 12 justices of the Supreme Court. Currently, about one out of every eight senior judges is a woman. About three per cent are from black and asian groups, compared to 12% of the population in England and Wales.
Launching the consultation, “Appointments and Diversity: A Judiciary for the 21st Century”, this week, justice secretary Ken Clarke said: “Candidates should always be assessed on merit. But swathes of talent are going untapped.
“I am especially concerned to open up the judiciary to those with caring responsibilities. It should no longer be the case that an able woman who seeks a post in the senior judiciary is at a disadvantage because she chose to pause her career to have a family.”
One key proposal is that selection panels be allowed to positively favour those from under-represented backgrounds, if two candidates are of equal merit, by applying the Equality Act 2010.
Other proposals include: appointing an independent layperson, instead of a judge, to head the selection panels for the lord chief justice and the president of the Supreme Court; transferring the lord chancellor’s judicial appointment powers below either the High Court or the Court of Appeal to the lord chief justice; and restricting judicial appointment commission involvement in selecting judicial office holders who do not require a legal qualification.
The consultation ends on 13 February 2012.
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