England: Over 50 per cent of young judges are women

The Judicial Diversity Statistics 2016 were published this week showing the figures for April 2016.

The statistics also show that in April 2016 the number of woman Court of Appeal judges remains the same as last year at eight out of 39 (21 per cent).

Twenty-two out of 106 High Court judges are women (21 per cent). In April 2015 the number was 21 (20 per cent).

In the courts the percentage of female judges has increased between April 2015 and April 2016 from 25 per cent to 28 per cent. In tribunals it remained stable at 45 per cent.

The number of female Circuit judges increased from 146 in April 2015 to 160 in April 2016 (from 23 per cent to 26 per cent).

In tribunals, 64 per cent of the 56 judges under 40 are women (56 per cent last year).

The percentage of judges who identify as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic is five per cent in courts (six per cent last year), and in tribunals nine per cent (stable since 2015). This is higher for judges under 40 – eight per cent (six per cent last year) for courts and 14 per cent (15 per cent last year) for tribunals.

A third (34 per cent, compared with 36 per cent in 2015) of court judges and two thirds (65 per cent, compared with 67 per cent in 2015) of tribunal judges are from non-barrister backgrounds. This varies by jurisdiction for both courts and tribunals, with judges in lower courts more likely to come from a non-barrister background.

Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, the Lord Chief Justice, welcomed the overall rise in female judges, noting the “marked improvement since 2015”.

As regards ethnic minority judges, the number under the age of 50 has gone up from 12 per cent to 16 per cent, which, Lord Thomas said, “provides some encouragement for the future”.

However, the report shows overall that the number of ethnic minority judges in courts is down by one per cent from last year to five per cent this year.

Lord Thomas said: “This is an area of concern and one where the committee will be considering what more needs to be done.”