A new Judicial and Legal Diversity Board has been launched to improve diversity across judicial appointments in England and Wales.
The board brings together senior figures from the judiciary, government and legal profession as concerns persist over representation and the strength of the judicial talent pipeline. The board is co-chaired by the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill and Lord Chancellor David Lammy MP. It met for the first time last week and is intended to provide a more coordinated forum for work on judicial diversity across the legal sector.
Its creation follows the January launch of the judiciary’s five-year diversity and inclusion strategy and builds on existing initiatives aimed at widening the pool of candidates for judicial office. The Ministry of Justice and Judicial Office said the board reflects a commitment to greater collaboration in developing “the judges of the future”.
Calling judicial diversity a “key priority”, Baroness Carr said: “The establishment of this board is a welcome forum for us to work alongside the legal professions in providing opportunities for people from all walks of life to become part of a judiciary that is inclusive, respectful and representative of the society that we serve.”
The board includes the Ministry of Justice, the Judicial Office, the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), the Legal Services Board, the Law Society of England and Wales, the Bar Council and the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives. The board replaces a previous initiative chaired by the JAC.
The board’s work will include efforts to support Black and other minority legal professionals, including candidates from working-class backgrounds, through stronger mentoring and support. It will also seek to make judicial careers more accessible to lawyers outside the Bar, including solicitors and legal executives.
Lammy said the board was “a huge step forward” as he and Carr looked “to break down barriers and bring talent from all walks of life – continuing to drive real progress towards a judiciary that’s reflective of modern Britain”, carrying on his long-term interest in the subject while in opposition.
Law Society president Mark Evans welcomed the initiative but said persistent concerns remained about outcomes for candidates from underrepresented groups.
“Despite extensive work to encourage and support candidates from all backgrounds, a diverse pool of applicants is still not resulting in fair representation,” he said, adding that the commitment from both Lammy and Carr was “a welcome step”.
Evans said the profession would want to see “concrete proposals that address our long-standing concerns” and called on the Ministry of Justice to “ensure the board delivers real, lasting changes and creates a level playing field for all legal professionals”.
Bar Council chair Kirsty Brimelow KC also backed the board’s creation. “It is absolutely right that improving judicial diversity is a priority for the Lord Chancellor and Lady Chief Justice, and we’re pleased that the Bar Council is part of the new board,” she said.
“Progress on judicial diversity, particularly in relation to Black candidates and disabled candidates, has been far too slow for too long,” Brimelow added.
She said the board “must be focused on ensuring that there is support and investment so that our judiciary reflects the diverse communities we live in”. She added that while the board carried out its work, lawyers interested in judicial careers should consider existing programmes, including Pre-Application Judicial Education, which is now open for its next cohort.
The launch comes against a difficult backdrop for judicial recruitment. The Senior Salaries Review Body recently recommended an above-inflation 3.8% pay rise and warned that the number of successful candidates rated “outstanding” or “strong” was diminishing, potentially weakening the senior judiciary.
The review body said the judiciary faced “persistent recruitment shortfalls, declining candidate quality, rising workloads and fragile morale”, adding that the decline in candidate quality was “a warning sign that the talent pipeline to senior judicial office is at risk of erosion”.
It also warned: “This weakening of the talent pipeline has wider implications. It affects not only the overall quality of appointments but also efforts to build a judiciary that is more diverse and representative.”
Lammy later declined to accept the full recommendation, offering a 3.5% increase instead. He also named Professor Lynne Berry CBE, chair of the governors of the University of Westminster, as his preferred candidate to chair the JAC for an 18-month term, subject to scrutiny by the House of Commons Justice Committee next month. The JAC post has been vacant since December.
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