England: Lord Chief Justice calls for ‘urgent’ action on judicial recruitment crisis

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett of Maldon, said that for the fourth year in a row, a number of judicial posts would go unfilled and that there was a real prospect of the High Court operating at 20 per cent below its capacity.

The Times reports that at an annual dinner for the judiciary hosted by the Lord Mayor of London at Mansion house, the judge said: “There is an urgent need to act now if we are to avoid serious and lasting damage to the High Court … with knock-on consequences for the professional services industry and the City.”

Lord Burnett added that the UK government’s response to the report of the Senior Salaries Review Body later this year would affect recruitment, with judges hoping for better salaries and conditions.

Last August Scottish Legal News’ enquiries among leading QCs north of the border found that most had no appetite to become judges, citing hostile media coverage, lack of respect for the judiciary, relatively modest pay and pension packages, a backlog of distressing child sex abuse cases and concerns over judicial independence as well as the isolation and strenuous workload the job entails.

This was subsequently confirmed in a survey ordered by the Lord President, Lord Carloway, which found that only six per cent of QCs surveyed intended to apply to the College of Justice.

Fifty-nine per cent said they had no intention of applying, while 35 per cent were undecided.