England: Bar Council Calls for judiciary to be more diverse

Statistics released by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) have prompted the Bar Council to call for a more diverse judiciary.

JAC published figures this week for appointments from 1st April to 31st March 2016. More than 2,439 candidates applied during this time as part of 22 selection exercises, from which 308 were recommended for judicial appointment.

Black and minority ethnic candidates (BAME) represented 387 of all applications, around 16 per cent. Twenty-eight (9 per cent) were recommended for appointment

Women made up around 45 per cent of the total recommendations, with 140 of all 308 recommendations being female.

However, the Bar Council said the figures showed that BAME candidates were the group most likely to be excluded when it came to both whittling down applications and selecting candidates for recommendation.

Sam Mercer, head of equality and diversity at the Bar Council, said 20 per cent of white applicants for Recorder appointments were shortlisted, compared to 10 per cent of BAME candidates. Of those shortlisted, 46 per cent of white applicants were recommended, compared to 29 per cent of BAME applicants.