ABSTRACT

In introducing the Judicial Diversity Statistics in 2016, after commenting on the improved position as regards gender, the Lord Chief Justice said: [t]he percentage of BAME judges under 50 years of age has increased from 12 per cent to 16 per cent which provides some encouragement for the future [but] we are disappointed that there has been no improvement in either courts or tribunals in the total percentage of judges from a Black Asian and Minority Ethnic background. Recent statistics from the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) and the Judicial Office show that the number of judges of known black and minority ethnic origin at both Court and Tribunal level have remained almost static over the past few years. The man or woman on the Clapham omnibus might reasonably conclude that the appointment process is broken and needs fixing, and yet the solutions currently applied are more about fixing the candidate.