Appointing the judges

Half of all judges recommended for appointment in the last year were women, according to the Judicial Appointments Commission's (JAC) annual report.

However, women made up only 45% of recommendations for judicial posts requiring legal qualifications and experience. Black and minority ethnic (BAME) candidates comprised 6% of legal judicial posts. 

The time it takes to appoint a judge has been reduced in the last two years from an average of 30 weeks to 21 weeks, the annual report showed.

Christopher Stephens, JAC chair, says in his introduction: “Women have been making good progress in JAC selection exercises for most levels of the judiciary for some time. 

“This success is also being seen at more senior levels including the High Court and Court of Appeal. However, sustained efforts are needed to ensure this trend continues. Progress may also be affected if the number of vacancy requests falls, particularly in relation to part-time fee-paid appointments.”

Currently, about a quarter of judges overall are women, including 21 out of 107 High Court judges and seven out of 43 Lord Justices of Appeal and Heads of Division. Lady Hale is the only female justice of the Supreme Court. 

Earlier this year, Shadow Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan asked Sir Geoffrey Bindman QC and Karon Monaghan QC to come up with proposals on what a future Labour Government could do to make sure judges and magistrates better reflect wider society. Khan said his party wasn’t prepared “to sit by for 100 years and let things move along at a snail’s pace”.