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Human Rights
Recorders. 73 Barristers from ethnic minorities with more than 20
years' are four per cent of the bar and 3 per cent of Assistant
Recorders. 74 There may be an additional problem of reluctance,
for a variety of reasons, of some qualified persons to apply 75 —
which may or may not be something that can be altered by
exhortation and encouragement. 76
There are relatively few former solicitors on the bench. 77 The
main reason is that it has been thought that the necessary
background, at least for sitting in the Crown Court or the High
Court, is substantial experience as an advocate in the higher
courts, experience that most solicitors do not have. Responding
to the publication of Sir Leonard Peach's inquiry on judicial
appointments, 78 the Lord Chancellor said that there may in the
past have been too great a tendency to promote the best
advocates from the Bar to the bench with insufficient attention
to the possibility of promoting other lawyers working in the
courts: "The skills and experience needed to be a judge may
perfectly well be shown by a successful litigation solicitor as by
a leading advocate, and indeed that has already been proved to
be the case by the appointment of solicitors to the bench." 79 This
was a clear signal that Lord Irvine will be looking for more
senior solicitors to appoint, at least if they have significant
73 Judicial Appointments, op. tit, n. 72, p. 8, para. 1.16. Dr K. Malleson has drawn
the LCD's attention to the fact that these figures are misleading in that they
understate the proportion of women in the relevant cohort. This is because the
LCD's figures include older barristers of over 30 years' Call when there were
very few women. Taking the cohort of between 15 and 30 years' Call, the
proportion of women at the Bar (18 per cent) was almost identical to that of
female Assistant Recorders (17 per cent).
74 ibid.
75 Since 1994 judicial posts have been advertised and in 1997 this was extended
to the High Court. Of the seven High Court judges appointed in 1998-1999,
four had applied and three had been invited to accept appointment. (Juditial
Appointments, op. cit., n. 72 above, p. 23.)
76 Dr Kate Malleson, of the London School of Economics Law Department, has
been commissioned by the LCD to undertake research to help identify the
reasons why those who are currently underrepresented on the bench, especially
women and members of the ethnic minorities, might be disinclined to
apply for appointment.
77 In 1999, of 149 judges of the level of High Court and above, only one was a
former solicitor. Former solicitors were 13 per cent of the Circuit judges and
10 per cent of Recorders.
78 Sir Leonard Peach, An Independent Scrutiny of the Appointment Processes of
judges and Queen's Counsel in England and Wales, December 1999.
79 LCD, Press Notice, No. 379/1999, December 3, 1999.
97