Figures show BAME candidates less likely to make it as judges than white counterparts

While 20 per cent of white applicants for Recorder appointments were shortlisted, the corresponding figure for BAME candidates was 10 per cent. Of the white applicants who were shortlisted, almost half (46 per cent) were recommended for appointment, compared with 29 per cent of the shortlisted BAME applicants.

Percentage dropping

Furthermore, the percentage of BAME candidates has dropped when comparing the Recorder exercise to that which was run in 2011, with five percent of recommended candidates coming from a BAME background in 2015 compared to eight per cent in 2011.

‘White applicants three times more likely to succeed’

Bar Council equality and diversity head Sam Mercer called on the legal sector to work together to improve diversity at the top of the profession: 'White applicants are three times more likely to succeed. This inequality is unacceptable. We urgently need to work in partnership with organisations across the legal sector, and with Government, to find out why this distortion is occurring and take immediate measures.'

Source: Legal Business