His plea follows the recent revelations from the Judicial Appointments Commission that vacancies for crown court and High Court judges were being left unfilled. Lord Kakkar, the commission's Chairman, said that as well as vacancies this year for 25 High Court judges, 120 to 140 circuit judges were needed and up to 80 for the district bench.
Pressing for change
A story in The Times today has reported that the 69-year-old Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, President of the Supreme Court, told the House of Lords constitution committee yesterday that he had been pressing for some time for a rise in the retirement age limit from 70 to 75.‘The problem of recruitment means that if you are going to get first-class [applicants] they are probably going to be rather older than they are at present,’ he is reported as saying.
