ABSTRACT
Background Judges tend to be upper-middle class, with white males predominating. A survey by Labour Research in 2002, found that of the judges in the High Court and above, 79% had been to public school and 83% studied at either Oxford or Cambridge Universities. Most judges working in the higher courts will have spent at least 20 years practising as barristers, mixing with a relatively small group of like-minded people. Few women or members of ethnic minorities have
become judges in such courts, and a milestone was reached in 2003 with the appointment of the first female Law Lord, Dame Brenda Hale.
