My favorite UK legal blog "Legal Cheek"
recently reported something we talked about in my course "Introduction to Common Law Legal System," namely the dearth of minority judges in England.
Stats from the Judicial Appointments Commission show that, of the lawyers who applied to be recorders (low-level judges) last year, only 10% of BME candidates were ever shortlisted. This is compared to 20% of white candidates. Of those who made the shortlist, 29% of BME lawyers were recommended for appointment. This is 17 percentage points less than the corresponding figure for white lawyers (46%).
It should also be noted that, since 2012, not a single BME candidate has applied to or been appointed to the Court of Appeal.
One reason cited for the changes made by the 2005 judicial selection reforms was the desire to diversify the bench in England. While the bench most surely has become more diverse, it appears that there is still a lot of work to do.
