* Ministry of Justice Official Statistics DIVERSITY OF THE JUDICIARY: LEGAL PROFESSIONS, NEW APPOINTMENTS AND CURRENT POST-HOLDERS - 2024 STATISTICS Updated 17 December 2024 APPLIES TO

ENGLAND AND WALES CONTENTS * 1. Main Points * 2. Statistician’s Comment * 3. Things you need to know * 4. Overview of the legal professions, selection exercises and judiciary * 5. Sex * 6.

Ethnicity * 7. Professional Background * 8. Intersectionality * 9. Age * 10. Other Characteristics * 11. Judges sitting in retirement * 12. Non-legal tribunal members * 13. Magistrates in

Post * 14. Magistrates Recruitment * 15. Further Information Print this page © Crown copyright 2024 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except

publication is available at

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/diversity-of-the-judiciary-2024-statistics/diversity-of-the-judiciary-legal-professions-new-appointments-and-current-post-holders-2024-statistics

------------------------- 1. MAIN POINTS 1.1 SEX THE FEMALE POPULATION IS GENERALLY WELL REPRESENTED IN THE LEGAL PROFESSIONS. 40% of barristers, 53% of solicitors, 77% of Chartered Legal

Executives, and 43% of all judges were female. THERE IS NO DISPARITY BETWEEN FEMALE AND MALE CANDIDATES IN THEIR SELECTION TO JUDICIAL POSTS. Female candidates represented 49% of the

eligible pool and 53% of recommendations in legal judicial selection exercises. 1.2 ETHNICITY THERE HAS BEEN A GRADUAL INCREASE IN THE REPRESENTATION OF ETHNIC MINORITIES IN THE LEGAL

PROFESSIONS AND JUDICIARY. Since 2014, the ethnic minority proportion of barristers INCREASED from 13% to 17%, of solicitors from 15% to 19%, of Chartered Legal Executives from 5% to 11%,

and from 7% to 11% for all judges. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF DISPARITY FOR ETHNIC MINORITY CANDIDATES OVERALL COMPARED TO WHITE CANDIDATES IN LEGAL JUDICIAL SELECTION EXERCISES FROM ELIGIBLE

POOL TO RECOMMENDATION. AT A MORE GRANULAR LEVEL OF ETHNICITY, THIS ALSO APPLIES TO ASIAN AND BLACK CANDIDATES. Across all legal exercises in 2023-24, ethnic minority candidates accounted

for 15% of the eligible pool and 16% of recommendations. For Asian candidates the proportions were both 9%, and for black candidates the proportions were both 2%. 1.3 PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

THERE IS EVIDENCE OF DISPARITY FOR SOLICITORS IN LEGAL JUDICIAL SELECTION EXERCISES COMPARED TO BARRISTERS. For all legal exercises in 2023-24, solicitors (52%) made UP more applicants than

barristers (29%) - but constituted a smaller percentage of the recommendations (32% compared to 40%). TRIBUNAL JUDGES ARE TWICE AS LIKELY TO HAVE A NON-BARRISTER BACKGROUND THAN COURT

JUDGES Overall, 31% of court judges and 62% of tribunal judges were from non-barrister backgrounds (mostly solicitors). 1.4 JUDGES SITTING IN RETIREMENT IN COMPARISON TO JUDGES, A LOWER

PROPORTION OF JUDGES SITTING IN RETIREMENT ARE FEMALE OR FROM AN ETHNIC MINORITY BACKGROUND, BUT A HIGHER PROPORTION HAVE A NON-BARRISTER BACKGROUND. Over a quarter (27%) of all judges

sitting in retirement are female. Ethnic minorities made UP about 5%. Non-barristers made UP over half (55%) of judges sitting in retirement, compared to 40% for all current judges. 1.5

NON-LEGAL MEMBERS OF TRIBUNALS COMPARED WITH JUDGES, A HIGHER PROPORTION OF NON-LEGAL MEMBERS ARE FEMALE, OR FROM AN ETHNIC MINORITY BACKGROUND. Of all non-legal tribunal members, over a

half (56%) were female and those with an ethnic minority background constituted 18%, compared to 43% and 11% for all judges respectively. 1.6 MAGISTRATES THE PROPORTIONS OF FEMALE AND ETHNIC

MINORITY INDIVIDUALS WERE HIGHER AMONGST THE MAGISTRACY THAN IN THE JUDICIARY. Over half (57%) of all magistrates were female. Ethnic minorities made UP 13%. THE PROPORTIONS OF FEMALE

INDIVIDUALS AND ETHNIC MINORITY INDIVIDUALS APPOINTED TO THE MAGISTRACY ARE COMPARABLE TO THOSE ALREADY IN POST. Over 2,000 appointments were made to become a magistrate in 2023-24. Of

those, 58% were female, and 16% were of an ethnic minority background. 2. STATISTICIAN’S COMMENT The female population is generally well represented throughout the judicial career path, from

the legal professions who make up the eligible pool of future candidates, through the judicial appointments process, to the current judges in post. The main exception to this is seen in the

more senior roles of the court judiciary where female judges tend to be less prevalent. Ethnic minority representation amongst the legal professions is in line with the general population

of working age (25-74). Representation within the judiciary is lower compared to the general working age population but is comparable to older ages of this working population (50-74). There

is no evidence of disparity in the judicial appointments process from eligible pool to recommendation between the combined group of ethnic minorities and white candidates in legal exercises

in the latest year. This also applies to the specific Asian/Asian British or black/black British ethnic minority groups compared to white candidates, but mixed ethnicity candidates are more

likely to be appointed when compared to white candidates. Over a three-year period there is still no disparity between ethnic minority candidates overall compared to white candidates, and

mixed ethnicity candidates are still more likely to be appointed when compared to white candidates. However, black/black British and those of other ethnic minority groups are less likely to

be appointed compared to white candidates. Female representation and ethnic minority representation was higher in those posts which do not require a legal background (magistrates and

non-legal tribunal members), compared to judges currently in post. In addition there were over 2,000 appointments to become a magistrate in the year and the proportion of those from an

ethnic background was slightly higher than that for the current magistracy. ------------------------- 3. THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW This is the fifth report bringing together diversity data on

the legal professions, judicial appointments, sitting judges and other post holders. The accompanying User Guide contains extensive information about these statistics - on their background,

sources and coverage. It also includes detailed description and explanation of terms used in the analysis of the data from the judicial selection exercises - such as ‘recommendation rate’,

‘relative rate index (RRI)’, ‘practical significance’, ‘statistical significance’ and ‘eligible pool’. We therefore strongly suggest the user guide is read alongside this report,

particularly anyone who is new to these statistics. In addition to the User Guide, downloadable tables have been published alongside this bulletin which contain more detailed information,

and these are referenced as ‘Tables’ throughout this report. For this edition covering 2023/24, data providers shared information on ethnicity at a more granular level for the first time,

using the full 19 categories from the 2021 Census of England and Wales, for example providing numbers on those identifying as black African or black Caribbean within the broader black

ethnicity group. Where appropriate, figures have been included within the commentary to highlight any specific findings. In order to most appropriately assess the figures and trends in

judicial diversity, comparisons in this publication are made against the relevant population in England and Wales, from which the legal professions and the majority of judges are derived.

Previous reports used the general population aged 25-74 from the 2021 Census. Given the older profile of those applying to become a judge and particularly those already a judge, this report

also makes comparison to the 50-74 age-group from the 2021 Census. We also make comparisons to the Annual Population Survey’s (APS) economically active population, in order to recognise that

not all members of particular demographic groups within these age ranges are employed or actively looking for work. ------------------------- 4. OVERVIEW OF THE LEGAL PROFESSIONS, SELECTION

EXERCISES AND JUDICIARY 4.1 LEGAL PROFESSIONS The legal professions form the pool from which the candidates who wish to become judges apply. Table 1.1 provides information about the sex,

ethnicity and age of these professionals by experience and seniority. As at 1 April 2024, there were 17,674 barristers, 168,478 solicitors (now including those who are exempt from holding a

practising certificate by virtue of section 88 of the Solicitors Act 1974) and 8,216 Chartered Legal Executives[footnote 1]. The varying size of the professions should be kept in mind when

interpreting the figures presented throughout this publication relating to the percentage of those in different professions with various characteristics (typically there will be more

solicitors than barristers or Chartered Legal Executives). 4.2 JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS: APPLICATIONS AND SELECTIONS During 2023-24 the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) completed

36[footnote 2] judicial selection exercises (excluding senior judicial appointments), 26 for legal posts and 10 non-legal tribunal exercises. There were a total of 6,963 applications,

resulting in 828 recommendations for immediate appointment (s87)[footnote 3]. Table 2.1 contains a full list of the exercises completed by the JAC between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, and

a detailed breakdown of the number of applications and appointments for each type of exercise. Where two or more applicants are assessed as being of equal merit, the JAC can select an

applicant for the purpose of increasing judicial diversity using the Equal Merit Provision (EMP) introduced by the Crime and Courts Act 2013[footnote 4]. EMP can be applied at both the

shortlisting and recommendation for appointment stages. For exercises reporting in the 2023/24 period, as a result of using EMP, 94 candidates were advanced to the next stage of the process

at the shortlisting stage, and 16 candidates were recommended at the selection day stage[footnote 5]. LEVELS OF EXPERIENCE AMONG APPLICANTS Judicial selection exercises have a minimum

statutory level of post qualification experience (PQE). However, the actual levels of applicants’ PQE are often greater than these minimum requirements. For 2023/24, of all applicants for

court and tribunal positions requiring at least 5 years’ post-qualification experience, applicants had around 17-19.5 years’ experience on average[footnote 6]. Of those who applied for

positions requiring at least 7 years’ experience, applicants had around 22 years’ experience on average. More specifically: * Court positions requiring 5 years’ PQE: the average PQE of

applicants was around 16.5-19 years * Court positions requiring 7 years’ PQE: the average PQE of applicants was 25 years * Tribunal positions requiring 5 years’ PQE: the average PQE of

applicants was around 18-20 years * Tribunal positions requiring 7 years’ PQE: the average PQE of applicants was 20 years Therefore, where information on the eligible pool for the legal

professions are presented in the following chapters, these actual averages are used to allow a more meaningful comparison. COMPARISON WITH PREVIOUS YEARS This publication presents data for

selection exercises which concluded during 2023-24 and does not draw overall comparisons with previous years. Historical comparisons can be affected by the number and type of exercises run

in any given year, which can vary according to recruitment needs, and by when exercises are formally closed (before or after the report’s cut-off date of 1 April each year). However, in

certain exercises where data is consistently available across the years summary statistics on recommendations for appointment have been presented in Table 2.5. 4.3 JUDICIAL OFFICE HOLDERS

Table 3.1 shows that as at 1 April 2024, by primary appointment, there were 3,667 court judges and 1,631 tribunal judges, with an additional 3,115 non-legal members of tribunals. Court and

tribunal judge numbers fluctuate over time and there is little pattern in changes from one year to the next. Compared to 2012 (the earliest year with data available on both courts and

tribunals), the number of court judges (3,575 in 2012) has increased slightly while the number of tribunal judges (2,060 in 2012) has decreased. Turnover in the judiciary tends to be

relatively low, with 207 judges beginning their first appointment in 2023-24 (95% court and 5% tribunal judges) and 243 leaving in the same period (59% court and 41% tribunal judges). As at

1 April 2024 there were 270 judges sitting in retirement in England and Wales. 4.4 MAGISTRATES There were 14,576 magistrates in post across England and Wales as at 1 April 2024, up 9%

compared to the previous year, and the second consecutive annual increase. Of the 5,131 applications to join the magistracy which concluded in 2023-24, 2,008 were for appointments, as

recorded on the new magistrates recruitment process introduced in January 2022. ------------------------- 5. SEX 5.1 LEGAL PROFESSIONS ------------------------- OVERALL THE FEMALE POPULATION

IS GENERALLY WELL REPRESENTED IN THE LEGAL PROFESSIONS, WITH EACH OF THE PROFESSIONS SHOWING A GRADUAL INCREASE OVER THE PAST DECADE. FOR ALL THREE PROFESSIONS, FEMALE PROFESSIONALS ARE

LESS LIKELY TO BE AT A HIGHER SENIORITY LEVEL THAN THEIR MALE COLLEAGUES. ------------------------- Although the female population is generally well represented in the legal professions as a

whole, as at 1 April 2024 the female proportion varied between the legal professions- from 40% of barristers, 53% of solicitors, to 77% of Chartered Legal Executives. Table 1.2 shows that

the female proportion in all three legal profession groups has gradually increased since 2014, with barristers and solicitors increasing five percentage points each, and Chartered Legal

Executives increasing four percentage points. POST QUALIFICATION EXPERIENCE AND SENIORITY Table 1.1 shows that male practitioners dominate senior positions across the legal professions

despite gains in female representation over the past decade[footnote 7]. * Over a half (52%) of male barristers have 20+ years’ experience compared to a over a third (36%) of their female

colleagues; and also, they are nearly three times more likely to be at a higher (King’s Counsel) seniority level (16% compared to 6% respectively). * Over a quarter (26%) of male Chartered

Legal Executives have 20+ years’ experience compared to a fifth (20%) of their female colleagues, and they are also slightly more likely to be partners (18% compared to 12% respectively). *

Although the declaration rate for the lowest PQE band (0-4) for solicitors is too low for analysis across the whole range of PQE bands[footnote 8], for the remaining bands the proportion of

female practitioners falls as PQE increases; almost two thirds (65%) of those with 5-6 years PQE are female, and 42% of those with 20+ years. And whilst 59% of solicitors are female, it is

only 35% for partners. FIGURE 1: PROPORTION OF FEMALE LEGAL PROFESSIONALS BY PQE BAND, APRIL 2024[footnote 9] Across all legal professions, the proportion of female professionals is notably

lower for those having 20+ years’ experience. FIGURE 2: PROPORTION OF FEMALE LEGAL PROFESSIONALS BY SENIORITY, APRIL 2024 For all three professions, the female proportion is lower at more

senior compared to less senior levels. 5.2 JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS: APPLICATIONS AND SELECTIONS ------------------------- OVERALL, THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF A DISPARITY IN LEGAL JUDICIAL

SELECTION IN 2023-24 FOR FEMALE CANDIDATES RELATIVE TO MALE CANDIDATES WHEN COMPARING RECOMMENDATION RATES FROM THE ELIGIBLE POOL. ------------------------- OVERALL VIEW Table 2.2 shows that

across all legal JAC exercises in 2023-24, female candidates[footnote 10] accounted for 52% of the applications (3,409), 53% of those shortlisted (798) and 53% of the recommendations for

appointment (367)[footnote 11]. These percentages suggest there was no disparity between male and female candidates in these exercises. This is borne out by the estimated[footnote 12] RRI

for the eligible pool to recommendation of 1.20, which shows that overall the likelihood of success is about 20% higher for female candidates from the eligible pool compared to male

candidates. This difference is statistically significant but not practically significant[footnote 13]. Similarly there was no evidence of a disparity between male and female applicants in

these exercises from application to recommendation (RRI of 1.05).[footnote 14] This lack of difference between male and female candidates is also shown by their similar progressions rates in

Figure 3. FIGURE 3: THE PROPORTION OF EACH SEX PROGRESSING THROUGH THE EXERCISE STAGES (ALL LEGAL EXERCISES COMPLETED IN 2023-24). EXERCISE-SPECIFIC ANALYSIS In 2023-24, five of the six

legal exercises where an RRI could be calculated showed a statistically and practically significant sex disparity (Figure 4). In four exercises - District Judge, Deputy District Judge, Judge

of the First-tier Tribunal, and Fee-paid Judge of the First-tier Tribunal and Fee-paid Judge of the Employment Tribunals - the respective RRIs from eligible pool to recommendation indicate

that the odds of success for female candidates were higher than for their male counterparts[footnote 15]. For the Circuit Judge exercise, the equivalent RRI (0.59) indicates that the odds of

success was higher for male candidates. However, Table 2.2 shows that for four of the five exercises mentioned above the RRI values for application to recommendation were not statistically

significant[footnote 16], meaning that that there is no evidence of disparity in success rate between male and female candidates when looking at applicants rather than the eligible pool. The

only exercise to have a statistically and practically significant difference for application to recommendation was Deputy District Judge with an RRI of 1.64, indicating that the odds of

success was higher for female candidates. FIGURE 4: RRI FOR FEMALE COMPARED TO MALE CANDIDATES, FROM ELIGIBLE POOL TO RECOMMENDATION (ALL LEGAL EXERCISES COMPLETED IN 2023-24). For Figure 4

above, note that statistically significant results – where the confidence interval (represented by the arms extending from each dot) does not overlap the parity line (1 on the x-axis) - are

light blue. The tolerance zone is shaded grey (0.8 to 1.25); results falling within this zone are considered to represent a disparity which is not large enough to be considered practically

important (and tend not to be statistically significant). Representation percentages (Figure 5) help to show the progress of female candidates at different stages of the selection process.

In comparison to the eligible pool, female representation was higher at the recommendation for appointment stage for six of the eleven large legal exercises. FIGURE 5: THE FEMALE PROPORTION

OF THE CANDIDATE POOL AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF THE APPOINTMENTS PROCESS, SPLIT BY ELIGIBLE POOL TYPE (5 YEARS’ PQE, 7 YEARS’ PQE, AND PREVIOUS JUDICIAL EXPERIENCE (PJE)) AND EXERCISE, FOR

LARGE LEGAL EXERCISES COMPLETED IN 2023-24. 5.3 JUDICIAL OFFICE HOLDERS ------------------------- FEMALE REPRESENTATION AMONG JUDGES IN POST HAS INCREASED OVER RECENT YEARS, FOR BOTH COURTS

AND TRIBUNALS JUDGES. ------------------------- JUDGES IN POST Table 3.4 shows that as at 1 April 2024, female representation among all court judges (38%) was 14 percentage points higher

than in 2014[footnote 17], and that for all tribunal judges (at 53%) it was 10 percentage points higher than in 2014 (Figure 6). Comparing the male and female distributions across judicial

positions in courts, Table 3.1 shows that for the latest year, the distribution of female court judges across the roles above recorder was roughly equivalent to that for male judges (apart

from Deputy High Court Judge) – even though there are comparatively fewer at higher levels as a proportion of each role. Male judges are more likely to be recorders than female judges, who

are more likely to be a County Courts District Judge or Deputy District Judge. Overall, the distribution of female tribunal judges across roles is generally similar to that for their male

counterparts. FIGURE 6: PROPORTION OF FEMALE COURT AND TRIBUNAL JUDGES AS AT 1 APRIL, FROM 2014. For context, just over half of the general population aged 25-74 and just under half of the

economically active population of England and Wales are female[footnote 18]. As judicial roles require substantial legal experience, a direct comparison with the general population does not

provide as much insight on the progression of female representation in the judiciary as considering the makeup of the legal professions (as presented at the beginning of this chapter).

ENTRANTS, PROMOTIONS AND LEAVERS There were the same number of female as male entrants to the judiciary during 2023-24, but of those leaving the judiciary during the same period over

two-thirds (69%) were male (Table 3.1). NEW ENTRANTS: Table 3.1 shows that the proportion of female judges in post (5%) who were new entrants to the judiciary – those not previously holding

a judicial appointment – was slightly higher than that for male judges (3%) during 2023-24[footnote 19]. PROMOTIONS: The proportion of female judges in post who were promoted in 2023/24 was

the same as that for male judges (3%) - although the actual numbers are fairly small and can be affected year-on-year by the mix of roles involved. LEAVERS: The proportion of female judges

in post who had left the judiciary during 2023/24 (3%) was slightly less than that for male judges (5%). FIGURE 7: REPRESENTATION OF FEMALE COURT AND TRIBUNAL JUDGES LEAVING AND JOINING THE

JUDICIARY, 1 APRIL 2023 – 31 MARCH 2024. PATTERNS BY TYPE OF APPOINTMENT Female representation across the judiciary varies by appointment type and seniority (Figure 8). Table 3.1 shows that

as at 1 April 2024, in the courts, female judges held 30% of the more senior posts (High Court and above). The highest level of female representation was among the Deputy District Judges

(County Court) at 48%. In tribunals, female judges accounted for nearly two-thirds (62%) of the most senior roles (Presidents)[footnote 20]. FIGURE 8: FEMALE REPRESENTATION OF COURT AND

TRIBUNAL JUDGES BY APPOINTMENT, 1 APRIL 2024. PATTERNS BY REGION The proportion of female judges across the court judiciary also varies considerably by region, from 30% in Wales, to 42% in

the Midlands (with England and Wales at 38%). Variations may reflect the nature of the appointments in the different regions, as well as the underlying regional make-up of both the general

population and the eligible pool. Further information is available in Table 3.2. ------------------------- 6. ETHNICITY 6.1 LEGAL PROFESSIONS ------------------------- THERE HAS BEEN A

GRADUAL INCREASE IN THE REPRESENTATION OF ETHNIC MINORITIES IN ALL THREE LEGAL PROFESSIONS OVER THE LAST DECADE. REPRESENTATION OF INDIVIDUALS FROM ETHNIC MINORITY BACKGROUNDS IS LOWER AT

THE MORE SENIOR LEVELS FOR EACH OF THE LEGAL PROFESSIONS. ------------------------- OVERALL PICTURE IN EACH PROFESSION Since 2014 there has been a gradual increase in the representation of

ethnic minorities amongst the three legal professions. For barristers the ethnic minority proportion increased three percentage points to 17%, for solicitors it rose four percentage points

to 19%, and for Chartered Legal Executives it doubled from 5% to 11%. At 1st April 2024, for all three professions the proportion of individuals self-identifying as ethnic minority was

broadly in line with those of the 25-74 working population in England and Wales from the 2021 Census, and slightly higher than the older 50-74 working population.[footnote 21] At a lower

ethnicity level, the main variation was in the representation of Asian or Asian British ethnicity among solicitors (12%) being higher than the 25-74 working population (9%) and older 50-74

working population (6%). Representation of black or black British individuals was similar for all three professions (3% to 4%), and was comparable to the 25-74 (4%) and 50-74 (3%) working

age populations. At an even lower granular level, of the Asian or Asian British sub-groups, the representation of Bangladeshi individuals was the same for each of the three professions, but

for all other sub-groups (Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, and Other) representation was higher for solicitors compared to barristers and Chartered Legal Executives. The proportion of black

Caribbean was higher than black African amongst Chartered Legal Executives, but the other way round for barristers and solicitors. POST QUALIFICATION EXPERIENCE AND SENIORITY In practice,

most applicants for judicial roles have more than the minimum experience. For court and tribunal posts requiring at least 5 years’ experience, applicants have on average around 17 to 19.5

years’ experience, and for court and tribunal posts requiring 7 or more years of experience, applicants have on average around 22 years’ experience[footnote 22]. Table 1.1 shows that: *

Amongst barristers, 50% of those with an ethnic minority background have 15 or more years’ PQE, with 39% having 20 or more years’ PQE, compared to 57% and 46% respectively for white

barristers. * Amongst Chartered Legal Executives, 17% of those from an ethnic minority background have 15 or more years’ PQE, with 8% having 20 or more years’ PQE, compared to 39% and 23%

respectively for white Chartered Legal Executives. * Although the declaration rates for the lowest PQE bands (0-9) for solicitors are too low for analysis across the whole range of PQE

bands[footnote 7], for the remaining bands the proportion of ethnic minority solicitors falls as PQE increases: 25% of solicitors with 10-14 years PQE are from an ethnic minority compared to

12% with 20+ years. Regarding seniority, 20% of solicitors and 17% of partners are from an ethnic minority background. FIGURE 9: THE PROPORTION OF EACH PQE BAND BY ETHNIC MINORITY GROUP AND

LEGAL PROFESSION GROUP, APRIL 2024[footnote 23] FIGURE 10: THE ETHNIC MINORITY PROPORTION OF EACH PQE BAND BY LEGAL PROFESSION GROUP, APRIL 2024[footnote 22] SENIORITY[FOOTNOTE 24] Table

1.1 shows that ethnic minority barristers are slightly less likely to be at a higher level (King’s Counsel) than white barristers (8% compared to 13%). This is also the case for ethnic

minority solicitors compared to white solicitors (23% compared to 26%), and for ethnic minority Chartered Legal Executives compared to their white colleagues (10% compared to 14%). At a more

granular level, Asian or Asian British individuals are less represented in more senior roles compared to junior roles in all three legal professions. This is also the case in two of the

three professions for black or black British individuals and those with mixed ethnicity (Figure 11). FIGURE 11: PROPORTION OF SENIOR AND JUNIOR LEVELS BY ETHNIC MINORITY GROUP AND LEGAL

PROFESSION, APRIL 2024 ------------------------- 6.2 JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS: APPLICATIONS AND SELECTIONS SINGLE-YEAR ANALYSIS: 2023/2024 ------------------------- ETHNIC MINORITY CANDIDATES

WERE RECOMMENDED FOR LEGAL EXERCISES IN LINE WITH THEIR REPRESENTATION IN THE ELIGIBLE POOL, SUGGESTING NO DISPARITY IN JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS RELATIVE TO WHITE CANDIDATES WHEN COMPARING

RECOMMENDATION RATES FROM THE ELIGIBLE POOL. HOWEVER, ETHNIC MINORITY CANDIDATES MADE UP A MUCH HIGHER PERCENTAGE OF APPLICATIONS THAN THEIR REPRESENTATION IN THE ELIGIBLE POOL, AND THEIR

REPRESENTATION DECREASED BETWEEN EACH EXERCISE STAGE, FROM APPLICATION TO SHORTLISTING TO RECOMMENDATION FOR APPOINTMENT. ------------------------- For selection exercises that closed in the

2023-24 financial year, candidate numbers at the application, shortlisting and recommendation for appointment stages were not high enough to produce and publish statistics for a more

granular ethnic minority group breakdown at the exercise level as the numbers would be too low to draw robust inferences and there would be a risk of disclosing sensitive information.

Therefore, for individual exercises in this most recent year of data, we consider candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds together as one group and compare their progression outcomes to

white candidates. Later in this section we have grouped together exercises from 2021 to 2024 to generate a sufficient sample of candidates from which we can look at ethnic minority

backgrounds on a more granular level in exercises for particular roles. OVERALL VIEW Across all legal exercises in 2023-24: * Ethnic minority individuals comprised 15% of the overall

eligible pool, and when comparing eligible pool to recommendation rates it was found to be similar to that for white candidates (shown by the estimated[footnote 25] RRI of 1.08, Table

2.2)[footnote 13]. This indicates that there was no disparity between ethnic minority and white candidates when comparing recommendation rates from the eligible pool. * Ethnic minority

individuals accounted for 31% (1,995) of applications, and for 16% (111) of those recommended for appointment[footnote 26]. This is reflected in the progress rates from application which

were lower for ethnic minority candidates compared to those for white candidates (Figure 12). FIGURE 12: PROGRESSION OF APPLICANTS THROUGH THE EXERCISE STAGES BY ETHNICITY (ALL LEGAL

EXERCISES COMPLETED IN 2023-24). ASIAN OR ASIAN BRITISH * Asian or Asian British representation among applicants was significantly higher than it was in the eligible pool, but subsequently

dropped at the shortlisting and recommendation for appointment stages (Figure 13). * This is reflected in the progression rates in Figure 14 which show lower rates for Asian candidates

compared to white candidates for all stages. * There was little difference in the likelihood of success from eligible pool to recommendation between Asian candidates and white candidates,

shown by the estimated RRI of 0.94 (Table 2.2). This estimate is neither practically nor statistically significant, indicating no evidence of any disparity in the progression rate for Asian

candidates compared with white candidates. BLACK OR BLACK BRITISH * Similar to Asian candidates, black or black British representation among applicants was higher than it was in the eligible

pool, but dropped subsequently at the shortlisting and recommendation for appointment stages (Figure 13). * Again, this is reflected in the progression rates in Figure 14 which show lower

rates for black candidates compared to white candidates for all stages. * The likelihood of success from eligible pool to recommendation was 10% lower for black candidates than it was for

white candidates, shown by the estimated RRI of 0.90 (Table 2.2). This estimate is neither practically nor statistically significant, indicating no evidence of any disparity in the

progression rate for black candidates compared with white candidates. MIXED ETHNICITY * The representation of mixed ethnicity candidates among applicants was higher than it was in the

eligible pool, but unlike for Asian and black candidates it remained higher at the shortlisting and recommendation for appointment stages (Figure 13). * Accordingly, the progression rates

for candidates of mixed ethnicity are comparable to those of white candidates (Figure 14). * In contrast to Asian and black candidates, the likelihood of success from eligible pool to

recommendation was 92% higher for mixed ethnicity candidates than it was for white candidates, shown by the estimated RRI of 1.92 (Table 2.2). This estimate is both practically and

statistically significant, meaning that we can be confident that there is a real difference between mixed and white candidate progression from eligible pool to recommendation. OTHER

ETHNICITIES * Candidates with an ethnicity other than white, Asian, black, or mixed ethnicity represented 1% of all candidates at every stage from eligible pool to recommendation (Figure

13). * As with those of mixed ethnicity, the progression rates for these other ethnicity candidates are comparable to those of white candidates (Figure 14). * There were not enough total

recommended candidates from other ethnic groups for an RRI covering the eligible pool to recommendation stage to be reliably calculated. FIGURE 13: REPRESENTATION OF MORE GRANULAR GROUPINGS

OF ETHNIC MINORITY CANDIDATES AT DIFFERENT EXERCISE STAGES (ALL LEGAL EXERCISES COMPLETED IN 2023-24) FIGURE 14: PROGRESSION RATES OF APPLICANTS THROUGH JUDICIAL APPOINTMENT EXERCISE STAGES

BY ETHNICITY (ALL LEGAL EXERCISES COMPLETED IN 2023-24) EXERCISE-SPECIFIC ANALYSIS When considering ethnic minority candidates relative to white candidates (Figure 15): * Of the five

exercises for which an RRI could be calculated, only one (Judge of the First tier Tribunal with an RRI value of 2.56) had a practically and statistically significant result from the eligible

pool to recommendation. Therefore, for that exercise there was evidence of a disparity in favour of ethnic minority candidates. For two exercises (Deputy Judge of the Upper Tribunal,

Immigration and Asylum Chamber; and Circuit Judge) the RRI values were also in favour of ethnic minority candidates, whilst for the Deputy District Judge exercise the RRI was in favour of

white candidates. These RRI values however were practically but not statistically significant, and so indicating no evidence of any disparity. The fifth exercise had no evidence of a

disparity. * When looking at the RRI values for application to recommendation, four exercises (Judge of the First tier Tribunal; Deputy Judge of the Upper Tribunal, Immigration and Asylum

Chamber; Fee-paid Judge of the First-tier Tribunal and Fee-paid Judge of the Employment Tribunal; and Deputy District Judge) had practically and statistically significant values (Table 2.2).

These suggest that there was evidence of disparity in favour of white candidates when looking at applicants rather than the eligible pool. These two contrasting measures reflect that

applicants from an ethnic minority background make up a much higher proportion of applicants than ethnic minority eligible pool representation, such that although they dropped off

significantly through the process, ethnic minority candidates were still recommended at a proportionately higher or similar level compared to the eligible pool (Figure 16). FIGURE 15: RRI

FOR ETHNIC MINORITY COMPARED TO WHITE CANDIDATES FROM ELIGIBLE POOL TO RECOMMENDATION (LARGE LEGAL EXERCISES COMPLETED 2023-24). For the above figure note that statistically significant

results – where the confidence interval (represented by the arms extending from each dot) does not overlap the parity line (1 on the x-axis) - are light blue. The tolerance zone is shaded

grey (0.8 to 1.25); results falling within this zone are considered to represent a disparity which is not large enough to be considered practically important (and tend not to be

statistically significant). Ethnic minority representation in exercises was higher at the application stage than in the eligible pool, but was lower at the recommendation stage than at the

application stage (Figure 16). In all eleven of the large legal exercises in 2023/24, ethnic minority representation in applications was higher than in the corresponding eligible pool, but

in all those exercises ethnic minority representation at recommendation was lower than at application. Of the eleven exercises, seven had a higher ethnic minority representation in

recommendations compared to the corresponding eligible pool. Of the four exercises that did not have a higher representation at the recommendation stage, the exercise for Deputy High Court

Judge had the largest difference. FIGURE 16: PROPORTION OF ETHNIC MINORITY CANDIDATES FOR EACH LARGE LEGAL EXERCISE COMPLETED IN 2023-24 AT SELECTED STAGES, BY ELIGIBLE POOL TYPE. 6.3

JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS: APPLICATIONS AND SELECTIONS THREE-YEAR ANALYSIS: 2021 TO 2024 ------------------------- FOR THREE OF THE LEGAL EXERCISES OVER THE PAST THREE YEARS, THERE IS EVIDENCE

TO SUGGEST DISPARITY IN THE RECOMMENDATION RATE FROM ELIGIBLE POOL IN FAVOUR OF WHITE CANDIDATES COMPARED TO ASIAN CANDIDATES, AND IN FAVOUR OF THOSE CANDIDATES FROM A MIXED ETHNIC

BACKGROUND COMPARED TO WHITE CANDIDATES. ------------------------- To enable robust comparisons and avoid disclosure riskss on the progression of candidates from Asian, black, mixed and

other ethnic backgrounds, we have aggregated data at an exercise level from the three most recent years of judicial appointments. The statistics presented below are produced from data on

selection exercises that closed between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2024. Summary findings, using ethnicity data at the most granular level that is collected (corresponding to the 19 ethnicity

categories in the 2021 Census of England and Wales), have also been included in this report for the first time, based on the same three-year period. Across all legal exercises that closed

between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2024: When looking at a more granular level at those candidates who declared themselves from a white background, the white Irish sub-group had lower

application to shortlist (21%), and application to recommendation (9%) rates than the other two main white sub-groups (‘English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Ireland, British’ and ‘Other

white’), which both had equal application to shortlist rates of 26% and equal application to recommendation rates of 13%. ASIAN OR ASIAN BRITISH For all the individual exercises for which an

RRI could be calculated, Asian candidates had lower eligible pool to recommendation rates relative to white candidates for the Recorder, Deputy District Judge and Fee-paid Judge of the

First-tier Tribunal and Fee-paid Judge of the Employment Tribunals exercises, with RRI values of 0.65, 0,46 and 0.72 respectively. These were found to be both practically and statistically

significant, indicating that there was indeed evidence of a real difference between Asian and white candidates in those exercises. The latest single year RRI of 0.94 for Asian candidates

overall noted above indicates that any disparity may have reduced in more recent selection exercises. For the District Judge and Circuit Judge exercises completed in the period 2021-24, the

eligible pool to recommendation rates had practically but not statistically significant RRI values of 1.49 and 1.37, indicating no real evidence of a disparity. At a more granular level, the

larger Asian or Asian British sub-groups (Indian, Pakistani and Other Asian) each had similar progression rates from application to shortlist, and application to recommendation, to the

overall Asian group (14% and 5% respectively). BLACK OR BLACK BRITISH There were no individual exercise types which had high enough numbers of black recommended candidates for an RRI

covering all stages to be reliably calculated. At a more granular level, the black African and black Caribbean sub-groups had similar progression rates (application to shortlist, and

application to recommendation) to each other. MIXED ETHNICITY For all three individual exercises for which an RRI could be calculated (Recorder, Deputy District Judge and Fee-paid Judge of

the First-tier Tribunal and Fee-paid Judge of the Employment Tribunals), candidates of mixed ethnicity had higher eligible pool to recommendation rates compared to white candidates (RRIs of

2.16, 2.03 and 1.91 respectively). These were found to be both practically and statistically significant, indicating that there was indeed evidence of a higher likelihood of success for

mixed ethnicity candidates compared to white candidates in those exercises. At a more granular level, of the two largest sub-groups, those who declared themselves from any other mixed ethnic

background had a slightly higher application to recommendation rate (13%) than those who were white and Asian (11%). OTHER ETHNICITIES There were no individual exercise types which had high

enough numbers of candidates from other ethnic groups for an RRI covering all stages to be reliably calculated. FIGURE 17: RRIS FOR ETHNIC MINORITIES COMPARED TO WHITE CANDIDATES FROM

ELIGIBLE POOL TO RECOMMENDATION, IN LEGAL SELECTION EXERCISES BETWEEN APRIL 2021 AND MARCH 2024. For the above figure note that statistically significant results – where the confidence

interval (represented by the arms extending from each dot) does not overlap the parity line (1 on the x-axis) - are light blue. The tolerance zone is shaded grey (0.8 to 1.25); results

falling within this zone are considered to represent a disparity which is not large enough to be considered practically important (and tend not to be statistically significant).

------------------------- 6.4 JUDICIAL OFFICE HOLDERS ------------------------- THE PROPORTION OF ASIAN AND MIXED ETHNICITY INDIVIDUALS IN THE JUDICIARY HAS SLOWLY INCREASED SINCE 2014,

WHILE THE PROPORTION OF BLACK AND OTHER ETHNIC MINORITY INDIVIDUALS HAS STAYED THE SAME IN THAT TIME. ------------------------- JUDGES IN POST Figure 18 shows that, as at 1 April 2024,

ethnic minority individuals representation increased by four percentage points compared to 2014[footnote 17] for court judges and tribunal judges combined. The overall proportion of 11% is

lower than that for the 25-74 working age population (17%) but comparable to the older 50-74 working age population (11%). At a more granular level, over the same ten-year period, there was

a three percentage-point rise in the proportion of Asian individuals (which is equivalent to an almost doubling in representation), and two percentage-point increase for those of mixed

ethnicity. In contrast, for the black ethnic group and those of ethnicity other than Asian, black, mixed or white, there was no overall change in their representation between 2014 and 2024.

At an even more granular level, as at 1 April 2024, of the overall proportion of Asian or Asian British judges (6%) more than half had an Indian background. The proportion of judges who

declared themselves from a black Caribbean or black African background was the same. FIGURE 18: REPRESENTATION OF ETHNIC MINORITY INDIVIDUALS AMONG COURT AND TRIBUNAL JUDGES, 2014 TO 2024.

As very broad context, comparisons can be made between the ethnic minority representation among judges with that of the general working age (25-74) population of England and Wales, by age

group, as determined by the 2021 Census[footnote 27] (Figure 19). However, given this may not be an entirely suitable comparator as judges tend to be drawn from the upper end of the age

distribution, it may be more appropriate to compare against the older working age (50-74) population. Despite limitations in making comparisons, the age of judges should be kept in mind when

considering variations in the proportions from an ethnic minority background, for example by appointment type. FIGURE 19: REPRESENTATION OF ETHNIC MINORITY INDIVIDUALS BY AGE GROUP - COURT

AND TRIBUNAL JUDGES (2024) COMPARED TO GENERAL POPULATION (2021 CENSUS)[FOOTNOTE 28] ENTRANTS, PROMOTIONS AND LEAVERS ENTRANTS: during 2023-24, the proportion of ethnic minority individuals

entering the judiciary was higher than of those in post as at 1 April 2024 for both courts and tribunals (Figure 20). As with sex, these figures are likely to fluctuate depending on which

roles were appointed during the year. PROMOTIONS: Table 3.1 shows that the proportion of ethnic minority judges in post who were promoted in 2023/24 was marginally higher than for white

judges (4% compared to 3%) - although the actual numbers are fairly small and can be affected year-on-year by the mix of roles involved. LEAVERS: The proportion of ethnic minority judges in

post who left the judiciary during 2023/24 was less than for white judges (2% compared to 5%). FIGURE 20: PROPORTION OF JUDGES JOINING, IN POST AND LEAVING THE JUDICIARY[FOOTNOTE 29] BY EACH

ETHNIC MINORITY GROUP AND COURT TYPE, 1 APRIL 2023 – 31 MARCH 2024 PATTERNS BY TYPE OF APPOINTMENT Due to small numbers at more granular categorisation of ethnic groups, we only consider

the broader category overall. The representation of ethnic minority individuals varied with appointment-type, but there was no clear pattern with regards to seniority. In the courts, the

proportion of judges from ethnic minority backgrounds was highest for District Judges in magistrates’ courts (14%) and Deputy High Court Judges (13%), with generally lower proportions for

the more senior appointments (Figure 21). For those tribunal roles with larger numbers, ethnic minority representation varied between 10% and 20%, though there were no ethnic minority judges

whose primary appointment was in the most senior tribunal positions (Presidents). FIGURE 21: REPRESENTATION OF ETHNIC MINORITY INDIVIDUALS AMONG COURT AND TRIBUNAL JUDGES BY APPOINTMENT, 1

APRIL 2024. PATTERNS BY REGION Over half (54%) of all court judges who declared themselves as from an ethnic minority background were based in London, compared to only 1% in Wales and 4% in

the South West. The proportion of ethnic minority court judges also varied by region, from 13% and 14% in London and the Midlands, to 3% and 4% in Wales and the South West. This is likely to

reflect, to some extent, variations in the geographic distribution of ethnic minority groups in the general population by region, which is considerably higher in London than other areas.

------------------------- 7. PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND 7.1 JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS: APPLICATIONS AND SELECTIONS ------------------------- THERE IS EVIDENCE OF DISPARITY FOR SOLICITORS COMPARED

TO BARRISTERS IN THE RECOMMENDATION RATE FROM APPLICATION FOR THE LEGAL SELECTION EXERCISES COMPLETED DURING 2023/24. ------------------------- The professional background of applicants for

judicial appointment is analysed using two separate methods: * “CURRENT LEGAL ROLE” compares applicants who have declared their current legal role as solicitor with those declaring their

current legal role as barrister. * “EVER LEGAL ROLE”[FOOTNOTE 30] compares those who have ever been a solicitor to those who have ever been a barrister. This includes those who currently

hold a legal role of barrister or solicitor and those who have declared holding the role of barrister or solicitor at any stage in their career[footnote 31]. Around 5% more applicants were

identified as solicitors using the wider definition of ever legal role, though the same broad patterns are shown for both measures and as a result the focus below is on the “ever legal

role”[footnote 32]. Overall, 131 applicants (2%) declared ever holding the role of CILEX lawyer at application in 2023/24. Eleven of those were shortlisted and four were recommended for

immediate appointment. Note that CILEX lawyers are not eligible to apply for all selection exercises. Application numbers are not sufficiently high enough for inclusion in this year’s full

analysis[footnote 33]. OVERALL VIEW Across all legal exercises in 2023-24: * From application[footnote 34] to recommendation, we can be confident that a disparity of practical significance

exists between solicitors and barristers. “Ever” solicitors were 53% less likely to be successful than “ever” barristers (shown by the statistically significant RRI of 0.47; for current

solicitors relative to current barristers, the equivalent RRI is 0.45)[footnote 12]. * “Ever” solicitors made up 46% of the recommendations for appointment (compared to 54% for “ever”

barristers). For current solicitors, the equivalent figure was 32% (compared to 40% for barristers and 27% for salaried judicial office holders and other roles). * This disparity can be

further understood by considering the lower progression rates from application to shortlisting and shortlisting to recommendation for “ever” solicitors compared to those for “ever”

barristers (Figure 22). A similar pattern exists for the current legal role measure. FIGURE 22: PROGRESSION OF APPLICANTS THROUGH THE EXERCISE STAGES BY “EVER LEGAL ROLE” (ALL LEGAL

EXERCISES COMPLETED IN 2023-24)[FOOTNOTE 35]. EXERCISE-SPECIFIC ANALYSIS Considering the results for individual exercises: * For five of the six legal selection exercises large enough to

reliably calculate an RRI, there was evidence of a disparity in success rates from application to recommendation for “ever” solicitors compared to “ever” barristers, which were both

practically and statistically significant (Figure 23). For the remaining exercise (District Judge) the difference was not statistically significant, which implies no evidence for disparity

in the recommendation rate. * Figure 24 shows that for three of the eleven legal exercises completed in 2023/24 (District Judge, Judge of the First-tier Tribunal, and Judge of the Employment

Tribunals), there was a higher representation of “ever” solicitors at the recommendation for appointment stage compared to the eligible pool stage. All three of these exercises required

previous judicial experience, hence the much smaller solicitor representation in the eligible pool. FIGURE 23: RRI FOR “EVER” SOLICITORS COMPARED TO “EVER” BARRISTERS, FROM APPLICATION TO

RECOMMENDATION (LARGE LEGAL EXERCISES COMPLETED IN 2023-24). For the above figure note that statistically significant results – where the confidence interval (represented by the arms

extending from each dot) does not overlap the parity line (1 on the x-axis) - are light blue. The tolerance zone is shaded grey (0.8 to 1.25); results falling within this zone are considered

to represent a disparity which is not large enough to be considered practically important (and tend not to be statistically significant). FIGURE 24: PROPORTION OF “EVER” SOLICITORS FOR EACH

LARGE LEGAL EXERCISE COMPLETED IN 2023/24, AT DIFFERENT EXERCISE STAGES, BY ELIGIBLE POOL TYPE. 7.2 JUDICIAL OFFICE HOLDERS ------------------------- TRIBUNAL JUDGES ARE TWICE AS LIKELY TO

HAVE A NON-BARRISTER BACKGROUND THAN COURT JUDGES. ------------------------- JUDGES IN POST As at 1 April 2024: * most judges from a non-barrister background were former solicitors (98%)

with only 49 judges coming from neither a barrister nor a solicitor background.[footnote 36] * non-barristers remain better represented among tribunal judges (62%) than court judges (31%).

Compared to 2014, this is a 5 percentage-point decrease among court judges, and compared to 2015 a 5 percentage-point decrease among tribunal judges, although there was a slight upturn in

non-barrister representation among tribunal judges for the latest year (Figure 25)[footnote 37]. FIGURE 25: REPRESENTATION OF NON-BARRISTERS AMONG COURT AND TRIBUNAL JUDGES, 2014 TO 2024.

ENTRANTS AND LEAVERS During 2023/24, the proportion of new entrants to the courts judiciary who were non-barristers was lower compared to leavers (Figure 26). For tribunal judges the

opposite was the case, although there were only ten new entrant tribunal judges in total during the year. Table 3.1 shows that the proportion of non-barrister judges in post who were

promoted in 2023/24 was lower (2%) than that for judges with a barrister background (4%) - although the actual numbers are fairly small and can be affected year-on-year by the mix of roles

involved. FIGURE 26: PROPORTION OF JUDGES JOINING, IN POST AND LEAVING THE JUDICIARY[FOOTNOTE 38] WHO WERE NON-BARRISTERS, BY COURT TYPE, 1 APRIL 2023 – 31 MARCH 2024. PATTERNS BY TYPE OF

APPOINTMENT Within the courts, non-barristers had a higher representation among the less senior judicial posts. Five percent (7 of 149) of all judges in the senior posts (High Court and

above) were non-barristers (Figure 27). Conversely, the non-barrister proportion among District Judges and Deputy District Judges was at least 54%. Within the tribunals, representation of

non-barristers was generally higher, ranging between 45% and 69% across the different appointments. FIGURE 27: REPRESENTATION OF NON-BARRISTERS AMONG COURT AND TRIBUNAL JUDGES, BY

APPOINTMENT, 1 APRIL 2024. ------------------------- 8. INTERSECTIONALITY Intersectionality explores the relationship between diversity characteristics. It captures how the combination of

multiple characteristics can ‘intersect’ to produce heightened effects of advantage or disadvantage. Analysis was conducted to explore the role of intersectionality in the legal professions,

on judicial appointments, and for judicial office holders. 8.1 LEGAL PROFESSIONS ------------------------- SEX AND ETHNIC GROUP REPRESENTATION VARIES ACROSS THE LEGAL PROFESSIONS. FOR

BARRISTERS, WHITE MALE REPRESENTATION IS HIGHER, BUT AMONG SOLICITORS AND CHARTERED LEGAL EXECUTIVES WHITE FEMALE REPRESENTATION IS HIGHER. ------------------------- Across each profession

overall, Figure 28 shows that as at 1 April 2024, for the four sex-ethnicity intersection groups (white male, white female, ethnic minority male, ethnic minority female: * Half of all

barristers (50%) were white and male. * The proportion of female practitioners is slightly larger for white solicitors (42%) and ethnic minority solicitors (11%) than their male colleagues

(39% for white solicitors and 8% for ethnic minority solicitors). * Over two-thirds (69%) of Chartered Legal Executives were white and female. When looking specifically at the legal

professionals with 15 or more years’ PQE (Table 1.1), the distributions are similar, but with slightly higher proportions for the white male group in all three legal professions. FIGURE 28:

REPRESENTATION OF SEX-ETHNICITY INTERSECTION GROUPS BY PROFESSION AS AT 1 APRIL 2024. SENIORITY Both white female and ethnic minority female groups have lower representation at higher

seniority positions in all three legal professions (Figure 29). White male is the only sex-ethnicity intersection group for which representation is higher in more senior positions in all

three legal professions. For the ethnic minority male group, representation is higher at the senior level for solicitors, the same for Chartered Legal Executives and lower for barristers.

FIGURE 29: REPRESENTATION OF SEX-ETHNICITY INTERSECTION GROUPS BY PROFESSION AND SENIORITY AS AT 1 APRIL 2024 8.2 JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS: APPLICATIONS AND SELECTIONS -------------------------

OVERALL, THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF INTERSECTIONAL DISPARITY IN JUDICIAL SELECTION OVER THE PERIOD 2021-2024. ------------------------- METHOD The role of intersectionality in judicial

appointments was analysed using data from the past three years, that is 2021/22 to 2023/24. The analysis explored the degree to which candidates with multiple minority characteristics faced

barriers to recommendation over and above those faced for each individual characteristic on its own. Outcomes for four intersectional groups were considered: female ethnic minority

candidates; ethnic minority solicitors; female solicitors; and female ethnic minority solicitors. Each of these groups were compared to white male barristers. FINDINGS: MAIN EFFECTS Figure

30 and Table 2.10 show the estimated effect of each main characteristic and intersectional grouping on recommendation from the application stage. The independent qualities of being female,

an ethnic minority, and a solicitor had statistically significant effects on recommendation. In comparison to a white male barrister, being female was associated with a 25% increase in the

odds, or risk, of being recommended and being an ethnic minority or a solicitor was associated with a 54% and 53% decrease in the odds of being recommended, respectively. Unlike when RRIs

are calculated directly for each characteristic in previous chapters, this analysis isolates the impact of each characteristic once having accounted for the others. The impacts of ethnicity

and professional background remain largely in line with those produced by RRIs, but the impact of sex increases. In other words, once the negative impacts of being an ethnic minority or a

solicitor have been accounted for, being female is associated with a 25% increase in the odds of appointment. FINDINGS: INTERSECTIONAL EFFECTS Having accounted for main effects, any

additional barriers posed by intersectionality were isolated. Being a female ethnic minority, a female solicitor, or a female ethnic minority solicitor were associated with a small decrease

in the odds of being recommended, over and above the main impacts of being female, an ethnic minority, or a solicitor. Contrastingly, being an ethnic minority solicitor was associated with a

very small increase in the odds of being recommended. However, none of these effects were statistically significant, meaning that there was no significant evidence of intersectional

effects. Put differently, this analysis implies that there is no additional advantage or disadvantage in judicial appointment for having combined characteristics. FIGURE 30: INDEPENDENT

IMPACT OF MAIN AND INTERSECTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS ON RECOMMENDATION (LEGAL EXERCISES COMPLETED BETWEEN 2021 AND 2024). Figure 31 further illustrates this finding by combining main and

intersectional effects. The scale used to combine effects differs from relative risk and is not naturally interpretable, and therefore Figure 31 is presented without an x-axis. For each

group, the graph captures how much of the total impact on recommendation is driven by main characteristics, and how much is driven by intersectionality. It shows how for candidates with

multiple minority attributes, recommendation is largely explained by the effects of each main characteristic, rather than their intersectional effect. FIGURE 31: COMBINED IMPACT OF MAIN AND

INTERSECTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS ON RECOMMENDATION (LEGAL EXERCISES COMPLETED BETWEEN 2021 AND 2024). SIGNIFICANCE EXPLANATION Why do we say that there is no significant evidence of

intersectionality, despite reporting small associations? When measuring intersectionality, we calculate the associated effect of each grouping on the likelihood of recommendation, in

comparison to white male barristers: * Female ethnic minorities: 7% decrease in the odds of recommendation. * Female solicitors: 8% decrease in the odds of recommendation. * Ethnic minority

solicitors: 6% increase in the odds of recommendation. * Female ethnic minority solicitors: 16% decrease in the odds of recommendation[footnote 39]. We then calculate a confidence interval

around each effect to reflect the fact that, if the same exercises were run again, outcomes might vary. The confidence interval gives us a range where we would expect to find the effect of

each characteristic, or combination thereof, the next time their impact is assessed. * Female ethnic minorities: Effect ranges from 33% decrease to 31% increase in the odds of

recommendation. * Female solicitors: Effect ranges from 24% decrease to 12% increase in the odds of recommendation. * Ethnic minority solicitors: Effect ranges from 27% decrease to 53%

increase in the odds of recommendation. * Female ethnic minority solicitors: Effect ranges from 49% decrease to 38% increase in the odds of recommendation. For all four groups, the

confidence interval crosses the 1.0 line, meaning that 0% is included in the range of possible effects on recommendation. This is shown in Figure 30, where the confidence intervals for the

four intersectional effects cross the 1.0 line, but the ranges for the main effects do not. Given this, we cannot conclude that there is a statistically significant difference in

recommendation rates between intersectional and non-intersectional candidates. For this reason, we conclude that there is no additional advantage or disadvantage in judicial appointment for

having combined characteristics. 8.3 JUDICIAL OFFICE HOLDERS ------------------------- JUST OVER HALF OF THE JUDICIARY ARE WHITE AND MALE, AND OVER A THIRD ARE WHITE AND FEMALE. ONE IN

TWENTY JUDGES ARE ETHNIC MINORITY MALE OR ETHNIC MINORITY FEMALE. WHITE MALE BARRISTERS ARE THE LARGEST SEX-ETHNICITY-PROFESSION GROUP IN THE JUDICIARY AND OCCUPY MOST OF THE SENIOR COURT

POSTS. ------------------------- SEX AND ETHNICITY JUDGES IN POST As at 1 April 2024, just over half (51%) of all court and tribunal judges were white and male (Figure 32). A higher

proportion of female tribunal judges were white (46%) or from an ethnic minority background (8%) compared to female court judges (34% and 5% respectively). FIGURE 32: REPRESENTATION OF

DIFFERENT SEX-ETHNICITY GROUPS IN JUDGES IN POST, APRIL 2024 PATTERNS BY TYPE OF APPOINTMENT A substantial majority of senior court judicial posts (High Court and above) are held by white

male judges (Figure 33). Tribunal posts tend to be held by higher proportions of white female and ethnic minority female judges than court posts. FIGURE 33: REPRESENTATION OF SEX-ETHNICITY

GROUPS BY PRIMARY APPOINTMENT, APRIL 2024 SEX AND PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND JUDGES IN POST As at 1 April 2024, male judges with a barrister professional background constituted 38% of all

judges, and nearly half (45%) of all court judges[footnote 40] (Figure 34). Considerably more tribunal judges were female with a solicitor professional background (35%) compared to court

judges (14%). FIGURE 34: REPRESENTATION OF DIFFERENT SEX-PROFESSION GROUPS IN JUDGES IN POST, APRIL 2023 Figure 34 and table 3.3 show that the sex split amongst former barristers is more

apparent among court judges (45% male:24% female) compared to tribunal judges (21%:18%). However, the sex split amongst former solicitors is greater in tribunal judges (26% male:35% female)

compared to court judges (17%:14%). PATTERNS BY TYPE OF APPOINTMENT A substantial majority of senior court judicial posts (High Court and above) are held by male judges with a barrister

background (Figure 35). Tribunal posts tend to be held by higher proportions of male and female former solicitors than court posts. FIGURE 35: REPRESENTATION OF SEX-PROFESSION GROUPS BY

PRIMARY APPOINTMENT, APRIL 2024 ETHNICITY AND PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND JUDGES IN POST As at 1 April 2024 white individuals with barrister professional backgrounds made up over half (53%) of

all judges (Figure 36). Ethnic minority and white individuals with solicitor professional backgrounds constituted proportionally twice as many tribunal judges (7% and 55%) as they did court

judges (3% and 28% respectively). FIGURE 36: REPRESENTATION OF DIFFERENT ETHNICITY-PROFESSION GROUPS IN JUDGES IN POST, APRIL 2024 PATTERNS BY TYPE OF APPOINTMENT Almost all of the senior

court judicial posts (High Court and above) are held by white former barristers. White barristers represented 61% of all court judges but only 32% of all tribunal judges. FIGURE 37:

REPRESENTATION OF ETHNICITY-PROFESSION GROUPS BY PRIMARY APPOINTMENT, APRIL 2024 SEX, ETHNICITY AND PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND JUDGES IN POST As at 1 April 2024 white male judges with a

barrister professional background constituted a third of all judges overall (Figure 38). Most of the remainder constituted white male former solicitors and white female former barristers or

solicitors, who each made up just under a fifth of all judges. FIGURE 38: REPRESENTATION OF DIFFERENT SEX-ETHNICITY-PROFESSION GROUPS AMONGST JUDGES IN POST, APRIL 2024 Four of every ten

court judges are white male former barristers, whilst white female former solicitors make up around a third (32%) of tribunal judicial posts. FIGURE 39: REPRESENTATION OF

SEX-ETHNICITY-PROFESSION GROUPS BY PRIMARY APPOINTMENT, APRIL 2024 ------------------------- 9. AGE 9.1 LEGAL PROFESSIONS ------------------------- AS AT 1 APRIL 2024, 40% OF BARRISTERS, 30%

OF SOLICITORS AND 39% OF CHARTERED LEGAL EXECUTIVES WERE AGED 50 OR OVER. ------------------------- POST QUALIFICATION EXPERIENCE Predictably, post qualification experience in legal

professionals is strongly associated with age (Figure 40). As at 1 April 2024, of those with 15 or more years’ experience, 66% of barristers, 56% of solicitors and 75% of Chartered Legal

Executives were aged 50 and over (Table 1.1). FIGURE 40: AGE GROUP FOR DIFFERENT LEVELS OF POST-QUALIFICATION EXPERIENCE IN THE LEGAL PROFESSIONS, APRIL 2024. SENIORITY Table 1.1 shows, as

would be expected a higher proportion of those in more senior roles are aged 50 or over, compared to those in less senior positions: * for barristers, 77% of KCs, compared with 36% of junior

barristers * for solicitors, 52% of partners compared with 25% of solicitors * for Chartered Legal Executives, 55% of partners compared with 37% of fellows 9.2 JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS:

APPLICATIONS AND SELECTIONS ------------------------- OLDER APPLICANTS HAVE LOWER RECOMMENDATION RATES THAN YOUNGER APPLICANTS, WITH 66% OF NEW APPOINTEES AGED UNDER 50.

------------------------- Age is strongly correlated with experience and, as a result, it is less insightful to make comparisons between recommendation rates based on age than for other

characteristics. Although figures are broken down by age group, we do not conduct relative comparisons of rates of recommendation. OVERALL VIEW Overall, the representation of candidates aged

over 50 in legal exercises completed in 2023/24 at application was 40%. This decreased between application and shortlisting to 38%, and then from shortlisting to recommendation for

appointment to 34% and meant that 66% of new appointees were aged under 50. EXERCISE-SPECIFIC ANALYSIS More senior roles typically require greater experience and therefore older age groups

are more highly represented at both application and recommendation for appointment stages (Figure 41). The proportion of individuals aged 50 and over tends to decrease between the

application and recommendation for appointment stages, though this was not the case for every exercise. The proportion of applications and recommendations who are aged 50 and over broadly

increases with seniority of post. However, exercises where representation of those aged over 50 decreased from application to recommendation are those shown above and to the left of the

diagonal line in Figure 41. FIGURE 41: PROPORTION OF APPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS AGED 50 AND OVER FOR EACH LARGE LEGAL EXERCISE IN 2023/24, COLOR CODED BY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

PER EXERCISE. 9.3 JUDICIAL OFFICE HOLDERS ------------------------- MOST COURT AND TRIBUNAL JUDGES ARE AGED 50 AND OVER, WITH 5% AGED 70 AND OVER. ------------------------- JUDGES IN POST As

at 1 April 2024, over two-thirds (69%) of judges were aged 50 and over - with similar proportions in the courts (68%) and tribunals (71%). In courts and tribunals 5% and 6% respectively of

judges were aged 70 and over[footnote 41]. ENTRANTS AND LEAVERS Not unexpectedly, for judges in both courts and tribunals three-quarters of new entrants to the judiciary in 2023-24 were aged

under 50, whilst the majority (93%) of those leaving the judiciary were aged 50 and over. PATTERNS BY TYPE OF APPOINTMENT Predictably for courts and tribunals, the proportion of those in

the older age groups was generally higher among more senior posts (Figure 42). FIGURE 42: REPRESENTATION OF AGES 50 AND OVER AMONG COURT AND TRIBUNAL JUDGES BY APPOINTMENT, 1 APRIL 2024.

------------------------- 10. OTHER CHARACTERISTICS 10.1 JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS: APPLICATIONS AND SELECTIONS ------------------------- DISABILITY: FOR LEGAL EXERCISES OVERALL, CANDIDATES WITH

A DISABILITY HAD A SLIGHTLY LOWER RECOMMENDATION RATE FROM APPLICATION THAN CANDIDATES WITHOUT A DISABILITY. SOCIAL MOBILITY: ACROSS ALL LEGAL EXERCISES, CANDIDATES WHO ATTENDED A UK STATE

SCHOOL HAD A SLIGHTLY LOWER RECOMMENDATION RATE FROM APPLICATION COMPARED TO THOSE WHO ATTENDED A UK INDEPENDENT OR FEE-PAYING SCHOOL. SEXUAL ORIENTATION: ACROSS ALL LEGAL EXERCISES,

CANDIDATES WHO IDENTIFIED AS LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL OR OTHER SEXUAL ORIENTATION HAD A SLIGHTLY HIGHER RECOMMENDATION RATE FROM APPLICATION THAN CANDIDATES WHO WERE HETEROSEXUAL.

------------------------- This section presents available statistics for other diversity characteristics – disability, social mobility, religion, and sexual orientation. Currently these are

only collected in a sufficiently robust way for judicial selection, and not for judges in post or the legal professions. This means we cannot provide analysis of recommendation rates

compared to the eligible pools, as produced for other characteristics. A summary is presented here, with further details in table 2.2. DISABILITY Across all legal exercises in 2023-24,

candidates with a disability represented 11% of applications and 9% of recommendations made. This leads to a slightly lower recommendation rate from application (8%) compared to candidates

without a disability (11%)[footnote 42]. SOCIAL MOBILITY For all legal exercises in 2023-24, individuals who attended a UK state school had a slightly lower recommendation rate from

application (10%) compared to those who attended a UK independent or fee-paying school (13%). Those who attended a UK state school made up 74% of applications and 71% of recommendations.

Almost all (99%) applicants attended university. Applicants who were the first generation in their family to attend university (i.e. neither of their parents attended university) had a lower

recommendation rate from application (9%) compared to candidates who were not the first generation to attend (13%). SEXUAL ORIENTATION Across all exercises legal exercises in 2023-24,

candidates who declared themselves to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or other sexual orientation represented 6% of applications and 7% of recommendations made. Lesbian, gay, bisexual or other

candidates had a slightly higher recommendation rate from application (13%) compared to those who declared themselves to be heterosexual (10%). RELIGION OR BELIEF For all legal exercises in

2023-24, the religion or belief with the largest representation among applications was Christian (43%) followed by individuals who declared no religion or as atheist (35%). These positions

were reversed when looking at recommendations, with those candidates who declared no religion/atheist representing the largest proportion (49%) followed by those who were Christian (40%).

For those groups with ten or more recommendations, the recommendation rates from application ranged from 5% for Muslim, Sikh and Hindu candidates to 15% for no religion/atheist candidates,

with Christian and Jewish candidates at 11%. 10.2 LEGAL PROFESSIONS AND JUDICIAL OFFICE HOLDERS As of April 2024, while there has been an increase, the disability declaration rate for the

judiciary was not at the 60% level required for statistical confidence in presenting data on judges with a disability.[footnote 44] The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) encountered a

data issue when migrating from a former system, which it is still trying to resolve. At present, for a particular cohort of solicitors it is not possible to distinguish between those who had

not responded to the disability question and those who actively declared having no disability. This issue affects sufficiently large numbers as to undermine the dataset as a whole and make

any estimate of disability representation among solicitors unreliable. CILEX Regulation (CRL) have reported an 96% declaration rate and that 5.4% of their members have reported a disability.

The Bar Standards Board have reported a 63% declaration rate with 8.3% of their members declaring a disability. The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) reported a 95% declaration rate

with 9% of those recommended for appointment in 2023-24 reporting a disability. Judicial Office have reported a 57% declaration rate. Given the current declaration rates overall and the

different approaches used to collect data, it is not possible to publish or analyse disability data for judges and lawyers in this report. Judicial Office are acting to increase their

declaration rates. The SRA are addressing the legacy data issues. The position will be reviewed again ahead of the 2025 report. ------------------------- 11. JUDGES SITTING IN RETIREMENT

------------------------- IN COMPARISON TO JUDGES, A LOWER PROPORTION OF COURT JUDGES AND TRIBUNAL JUDGES SITTING IN RETIREMENT ARE FEMALE OR FROM AN ETHNIC MINORITY BACKGROUND, BUT A HIGHER

PROPORTION HAVE A NON-BARRISTER BACKGROUND. ------------------------- Sitting in retirement is the policy which permits certain judges to retire, draw their pension, and continue to sit as

a fee-paid judge, if there is a business need to do so, up to the mandatory retirement age of 75.[footnote 45] There were in total 270 judges sitting in retirement (195 in courts and 75 in

tribunals) in England and Wales as at 1 April 2024, with an additional six non-legal tribunal members sitting in retirement (Table 3.5). 11.1 SEX As at 1 April 2024, about a fifth (19%) of

all court judges sitting in retirement were female, and for tribunal judges sitting in retirement it was nearly half (47%) (Figure 43). FIGURE 43: REPRESENTATION OF FEMALE COURT AND TRIBUNAL

JUDGES SITTING IN RETIREMENT, 1 APRIL 2024. 11.2 ETHNICITY Ethnic minority individuals constituted 2% of all court judges sitting in retirement, and 12% of all tribunal judges sitting in

retirement (Figure 44). FIGURE 44: REPRESENTATION OF ETHNIC MINORITIES AMONG COURT AND TRIBUNAL JUDGES SITTING IN RETIREMENT, 1 APRIL 2024. 11.3 PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND As at 1 April 2024,

non-barristers constituted under half (47%) of all court judges sitting in retirement, and three-quarters (74%) of all tribunal judges sitting in retirement (Figure 45). FIGURE 45:

REPRESENTATION OF NON-BARRISTERS AMONG COURT AND TRIBUNAL JUDGES SITTING IN RETIREMENT, 1 APRIL 2024. 11.4 AGE Overall, over half (54%) of all the judges sitting in retirement as at 1 April

2024 were aged 70 or over. However, the proportion was higher in the courts (61%) than it was for those in tribunals (37%). ------------------------- 12. NON-LEGAL TRIBUNAL MEMBERS

------------------------- COMPARED WITH JUDGES, A HIGHER PROPORTION OF NON-LEGAL MEMBERS ARE FEMALE, OR FROM AN ETHNIC MINORITY BACKGROUND. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF DISPARITY FOR FEMALE,

ETHNIC MINORITY OR DISABLED CANDIDATES IN NON-LEGAL SELECTION EXERCISES COMPLETED IN 2023/24. ------------------------- SECTIONS 12 TO 14 COVER ROLES WHICH DO NOT REQUIRE A LEGAL BACKGROUND,

THAT IS MAGISTRATES AND NON-LEGAL MEMBERS IN TRIBUNALS. This compares with preceding sections which focus on legal professions, selections for judicial posts requiring legal experience and

judges in post. While non-legal posts typically have eligibility criteria (for example, membership of an appropriate professional body), no attempt is currently made to estimate the eligible

pool. 12.1 APPOINTMENTS FOR NON-LEGAL TRIBUNAL MEMBERS SEX Across all non-legal exercises in 2023/24 female candidates represented half of applications (49%) and recommendations (47%), such

that their overall success rate was on par with that for their male counterparts (indicated by the RRI estimate of 0.93 not being practically nor statistically significant). ETHNICITY

Ethnic minority individuals constituted 46% of applications and 43% of the recommendations for all non-legal exercises completed in 2023/24. For context, ethnic minorities make up 17% of the

working age (25 to 74) population as of the 2021 census. The likelihood of recommendation from application for ethnic minorities was 13% lower than white candidates, suggesting no evidence

of a disparity in recommendation (the RRI estimate of 0.87 was not practically nor statistically significant). Similarly for Asian or Asian British candidates, the only sub-group for which

an RRI could be produced, the likelihood of recommendation from application was an estimated 9% lower than white candidates (the RRI of 0.91 was not practically nor statistically

significant), indicating no evidence of a disparity. AGE Across all non-legal exercises overall in 2023/24 those aged 50 or over accounted for 52% of the applications. This dropped to 44% of

those recommended for appointment. DISABILITY Candidates who declared themselves to have a disability constituted 11% of the applications and 11% of recommendations for all non-legal

exercises completed in 2023/24. As with ethnicity, this suggests no evidence of a disparity for disabled candidates relative to non-disabled candidates when comparing recommendation rates

from application (indicated RRI estimate of 1.05). SOCIAL MOBILITY Across all non-legal exercises in 2023/24, candidates who attended a UK state school had a lower recommendation rate from

application (41%) compared to those who attended a UK independent or fee-paying school (48%). Only 1% of applicants had not attended university. Of those who had attended university, those

who were the first generation to do so had a slightly lower recommendation rate from application (42%) than those candidates who were not first-generation attendees (45%). 12.2 NON-LEGAL

TRIBUNAL MEMBERS IN POST SEX Over a half (57%) of all non-legal members of tribunals as at 1 April 2023 were female, compared with 43% for all judges. As with the judges, the proportion has

been increasing since 2014 (see Table 3.4). This is partly reflected in the slightly higher proportion of male non-legal members who left during 2023/24 (8%) compared to female non-legal

members (6%). ETHNICITY As at 1 April 2024 ethnic minority individuals represented a higher proportion (18%) of non-legal tribunal members, compared to that for all judges (11%). Like the

statistics concerning the sex of non-legal tribunal members in post, these have been gradually increasing over the last decade. Those of an ethnic minority background were twice as likely to

be a medical tribunal member compared to white colleagues, but half as likely to be a disability tribunal member. INTERSECTION OF SEX AND ETHNICITY A third of all non-legal tribunal members

as at 1 April 2024 were white and male, compared to over half of all judges. Nearly twice as many tribunal members were male and of an ethnic minority (10%) compared to those in the

judiciary (6%). The white and ethnic minority female groups also represented a higher proportion of non-legal members than they did of all judges (see Table 3.3). AGE Non-legal members

tended to be older than judges on average, with 84% of those in post being 50 and over, compared to the 69% for all judges. During 2023/24, for non-legal member posts in tribunals, over half

(61%) of new entrants and most leavers (85%) were aged 50 and over. ------------------------- 13. MAGISTRATES IN POST ------------------------- IN COMPARISON TO JUDGES, A HIGHER PROPORTION

OF MAGISTRATES ARE FEMALE, OR FROM AN ETHNIC MINORITY BACKGROUND. ------------------------- SEX Of the 14,576 magistrates in post across England and Wales as at 1 April 2024, 57% were female

(five percentage points higher than in 2014). There was no strong variation amongst the regions, ranging from 54% to 61% (Figure 46). FIGURE 46: PROPORTION OF FEMALE MAGISTRATES BY REGION,

1 APRIL 2024 ETHNICITY As at 1 April 2024, ethnic minority individuals together constituted 13% of all magistrates (a five percentage-point increase from 2014 when 8% declared themselves as

from an ethnic minority). More specifically for each ethnic minority group[footnote 46]: * Asian or Asian British individuals constituted 7% of magistrates. * Black or black British

individuals constituted 4% of magistrates. * Mixed ethnicity individuals constituted 2% of magistrates. * Individuals from other ethnicities constituted 1% of magistrates. These proportions

showed some variation at a regional level, where London had at least double the proportion of Asian individuals compared to all but one of the regions, and at least treble the proportion of

black individuals compared to all other regions (Figure 47). FIGURE 47: PROPORTION OF MAGISTRATES FROM EACH ETHNIC MINORITY GROUP BY REGION, 1 APRIL 2024 INTERSECTION OF SEX AND ETHNICITY

Table 3.7 shows that just under half (49%) of all magistrates as at 1 April 2024 were white and female. This was followed by the white male group with 38%, and then the ethnic minority

female and ethnic minority male groups (8% and 5% respectively). AGE Magistrates tended to be older than judges on average, with 81% of those in post being 50 and over. 13.1 MAGISTRATES -

LEAVERS AND NEW ENTRANTS The proportion of magistrates that left during 2023/24 who were female (55%) or of an ethnic minority background (13%) were both slightly lower than the equivalent

proportion of new entrants in 2023/24, at 58% and 15% respectively. ------------------------- 14. MAGISTRATES RECRUITMENT On 17 January 2022, an updated magistrates’ recruitment process was

launched. This update introduced a new applicant tracking system (ATS) which collects information on magistrate recruitment across England and Wales and includes more diversity data on

applicants and recommendations for appointment to the magistracy. This is the second year for which ATS magistrates’ recruitment data is being published[footnote 47]. Figures are now shown

on the number of appointments of magistrates, rather than recommendations, with updated figures for 2022/23 given in Table 3.8a. Beginning with this year’s report, figures are shown for the

number of applications concluded on the ATS, made up of those not shortlisted, not appointed and appointed during the year. These will be in contrast to and not comparable with the number of

applications started in the year. ------------------------- THE PROPORTIONS OF FEMALE INDIVIDUALS AND ETHNIC MINORITY INDIVIDUALS APPOINTED TO THE MAGISTRACY ARE COMPARABLE TO THOSE ALREADY

IN POST. ------------------------- 14.1 APPLICATIONS Table 3.8b shows that during 2023-24, there were 4,025 applications made to become a magistrate[footnote 48]. SEX More than half (55%)

of all magistrate applications submitted in 2023-24 were from female individuals, comparable to the 57% of magistrates already in post. There is some variation by region where the proportion

of female candidates for the South East and South West are each below 50% (Figure 48). FIGURE 48: PROPORTION OF FEMALE MAGISTRATE APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED IN 2023-24, BY REGION ETHNICITY In

total, ethnic minority individuals constituted about 30% of all magistrate applications submitted in 2023-24, more than twice as high as the 13% of magistrates in post[footnote 49]. A wide

variation in the proportion of ethnic minority applicants is seen at the regional level (Figure 49), from 9% in the South West and Wales to 51% in London. More specifically: * Asian or Asian

British individuals constituted 16% of applications. * Black or Black British individuals constituted 9% of applications. * Mixed ethnicity individuals constituted 4% of applications. *

Individuals from other ethnicity backgrounds constituted 2% of applications. FIGURE 49: REPRESENTATION OF ETHNIC MINORITIES AMONG MAGISTRATE APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED IN 2023-24, BY REGION AGE

On average, those who applied to the magistracy in 2023-24 were younger than magistrates currently in post. 53% of magistrate applications were from candidates aged 50 or over, compared to

81% of magistrates in post. 14.2 APPOINTMENTS[FOOTNOTE 50] Table 3.8b shows that during 2023/24, 2,008 appointments to the magistracy were made in England and Wales[footnote 51]. SEX Female

individuals represented 58% of all magistrate appointments made in 2023-24. The female proportion of appointments by region ranged from 49% in the North West to 67% in London (Figure 50).

FIGURE 50: PROPORTION OF FEMALE MAGISTRATE APPOINTMENTS MADE IN 2023-24, BY REGION ETHNICITY In total, ethnic minority individuals constituted 16% of all magistrate appointments made in

2023-24. More specifically: * Asian or Asian British individuals constituted 7% of recommendations. * Black or black British individuals constituted 5% of recommendations. * Mixed ethnicity

individuals constituted 3% of recommendations. * Individuals from other ethnicity backgrounds constituted 1% of recommendations. By region, the proportion of those appointed who were from an

ethnic minority background ranged from 8% for the South West and Wales, to 36% for London (Figure 51). FIGURE 51: REPRESENTATION OF ETHNIC MINORITIES AMONG MAGISTRATE APPOINTMENTS MADE IN

2023-24, BY REGION AGE Of all the magistrates appointed in 2023-24, 59% of them were aged 50 or over. 15. FURTHER INFORMATION 15.1 ACCOMPANYING FILES As well as this publication, the

following products are published as part of this release: * A supporting guide providing further information on how the data is collected and processed, and including information about the

quality of the statistics in relation to their use. * A set of data tables, providing more detailed statistics on the legal professions, judicial appointments, and judicial office holders.

15.2 OFFICIAL STATISTICS STATUS These are official statistics which should comply with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Statistics. General information about the official statistics

system of the United Kingdom is available from: (https://uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/about-the-authority/uk-statistical-system/) 15.3 FUTURE PUBLICATIONS Our statisticians regularly

review the content of publications. As part of our continual review and prioritisation, we welcome user feedback on existing outputs including content, breadth, frequency, and methodology.

Please send any comments you have on this publication including suggestions for further developments or reductions in content. NEXT UPDATE: scheduled for July 2025 15.4 CONTACT Enquiries and

feedback on these statistics should be directed to the Data and Evidence as a Service division of the Ministry of Justice: WINCEN LOWE - email [email protected] Media or

other queries on the wider policy implications of these statistics should be directed to the relevant contact: Judicial appointments: REECE POPE - email [email protected]

or [email protected] Judiciary: KATY DURRANS - email [email protected] or [email protected] * 7,198 are in the current practising grade of CILEX

membership. The remainder are in a non-practising grade or grade where they are dual qualified as a solicitor or a licensed conveyancer. ↩ * As part of the High Court Judge exercise

JAC00125, the JAC recommended one near-miss candidate for appointment to a s9(4) Deputy High Court judge role. To reflect the fact that this candidate was not recommended through the regular

s9(4) exercise (JAC00131), this has been recorded as a separate exercise, labelled JAC00126. Other sources may show 35 exercises in this period rather than 36 for this reason. ↩ *

Candidates are selected for current vacancies under Section 87 of the Constitutional Reform Act and for vacancies that may arise in the foreseeable future under Section 94. There were five

recommendations to a list for future potential appointment under Section 94 in 2023-24. ↩ * Details of the Crime and Courts Act can be found here:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/22/schedule/13/enacted ↩ * EMP was applied at the shortlisting stage 7 times within 6 exercises, with EMP being applied twice in one exercise. EMP

was applied at the selection stage on 6 occasions in 5 exercises, with EMP being applied twice in one exercise. ↩ * For some large fee-paid exercises requiring 5 years’ PQE, the PQE data is

not provided until selection day, and so the above ranges have been estimated from other available data. ↩ * Note that holding a senior position in the legal profession is not necessarily a

good predictor of whether someone is more likely to be appointed to a judicial role. ↩ ↩2 * The diversity declaration rates for recently qualified solicitors have declined since the SRA

moved its authorisation process on-line and measures are being taken to address this. ↩ * The declaration rate for sex for solicitors in PQE band 0-4 is below the required level for

analysis, and so the representation percentage has been excluded from this publication. ↩ * Currently sex is only reported in a binary way (i.e. with categories “male” and “female”). Those

who left the question unanswered and those who chose ‘prefer not to say’ are grouped as “unknown”. The category “Other” was introduced within the JAC sex data in 2020, but there are

insufficient numbers to publish these counts separately without risking disclosure of sensitive information. The few candidates who did choose the “Other” sex option have therefore been

grouped in unknown, though this may change in future years if there are sufficient numbers. ↩ * Those who do not disclose their sex or declare “Other” are excluded when calculating

proportions. ↩ * To produce an estimate combined across all legal exercises with differently sized eligible pools, a weighting was made by the number of recommendations for each exercise. ↩ 

↩2 * Please see the accompanying User Guide for more details and explanation about RRIs, and statistical and practical significance. ↩ ↩2 * The RRI figures in this chapter provide an

estimate of the overall effect of the characteristic, rather than isolating its specific effects independent of any other factors. Analyses separating out the different effects of multiple

characteristics for recommendation rates from application can be found in Chapter 8 on Intersectionality. ↩ * RRIs comparing other stages of the application process are provided in the

accompanying data tables. ↩ * A statistically non-significant finding indicates that the results could be due to chance and should be understood to mean that there is effectively no

difference between compared groups. ↩ * Figures are calculated exactly and then rounded to the nearest whole number for presentation in the report. ↩ ↩2 * Based on the 2021 Census, 51% of

the England and Wales population was female and aged 25-74. This age group is used as it covers the range from the minimum age at which judges are likely to be appointed to the maximum

retirement age (75). Estimates based on data from the 2020 Annual Population Survey provide a statement of the economically active population (aged 16 and over who are either employed or

looking for work) in England and Wales, which show a comparative figure of 47% of the economically active population (EAP) in England and Wales being female. ↩ * This figure can fluctuate

from one year to the next depending on the appointments made, which do not cover all posts each year. ↩ * Including deputy and vice presidents. This percentage only includes primary

appointments and therefore does not consider Upper Tier Tribunal Presidents and the Employment Appeal Tribunal President as these are not primary appointments. ↩ * The 2021 Census data

suggests that 17% of the working age (25 to 74) population and 11% of the older 50-74 working age population in England and Wales are from ethnic minority backgrounds. Estimates based on

data from the 2020 Annual Population Survey provide a statement of the economically active population (aged 16 and over) in England and Wales, which show a comparative figure of 14% of the

economically active population (EAP) in England and Wales being from ethnic minority backgrounds. ↩ * See Section 4 - Overview ↩ ↩2 * The ethnicity declaration rates for solicitors in PQE

bands 0-4 and 5-9 (5-6 and 7-9 combined) are below the required level for analysis, and so the representation percentages have been excluded from this publication. ↩ * It is important to

note that having a higher seniority position is not necessarily a good predictor of whether someone is more likely to be appointed to a judicial role. ↩ * To produce an estimate combined

across all legal exercises with differently sized eligible pools, a weighting was made by the number of recommendations for each exercise. ↩ * Those that did not disclose their ethnicity are

excluded when calculating proportions. ↩ * The 2021 Census data suggests that 17% of the working age (25-74) population and 11% of the older working age population (50-74) in England and

Wales are from ethnic minority backgrounds. Estimates based on data from the 2020 Annual Population Survey provide a statement of the economically active population (aged 16 and over) in

England and Wales, which show a comparative figure of 14% of the economically active population (EAP) in England and Wales being from ethnic minority backgrounds. ↩ * For the general

population, ’70 and above’ is based on population aged 70-74. ↩ * The declaration rate for ethnicity for new entrants to the court judiciary in 2023-24 was below the required level for

analysis, and so the representation percentage has been excluded from this publication. ↩ * As introduced in the 2018-19 publication, where further detail is given. ↩ * To prevent double

counting, if an applicant has declared both a previous role of solicitor and barrister, a value of 0.5 has been assigned for both solicitor and barrister. When referring to “ever” solicitor

or “ever” barrister, these adjusted figures are used. ↩ * Detailed figures for both methods are available in the accompanying data tables. ↩ * Figures for CILEX applicants for individual

selection exercises are given in the data tables. ↩ * In contrast to sex and ethnicity, comparisons in this section are based on applications, rather than the eligible pool. For posts not

requiring judicial experience, 90% of the eligible pool based on current legal role are solicitors, far more than the proportion that had been recommended, so that the relative rates for

solicitors are small and provide less insight. These figures are however presented in the data tables. ↩ * The progression rates for each group are almost identical across the two

definitions of ‘current legal role’ and ‘ever legal role’. As a result, we have only presented the ‘ever legal role’ definition here. ↩ * These figures only reflect the most recent legal

role at the time of appointment, and therefore will not capture the full professional legal background of the judiciary. ↩ * Figures for tribunal judges are not available for 2014. ↩ * The

declaration rate for professional background for new entrants to the court judiciary in 2023-24 was below the required level for analysis, and so the representation percentage has been

excluded from this publication. ↩ * This captures any additional impact of being a female ethnic minority solicitor which was not already captured by the 2-way intersectional groupings

above. The combined intersectional impact of being a female ethnic minority solicitor is a 24% decrease in the odds of recommendation, calculated by combining the impacts from the 4

groupings. ↩ * These percentages do not include the small number of judges whose professional background is neither as a solicitor or a barrister. This is recorded as “other” in Table 3.3 of

the accompanying tables and includes former legal executives. ↩ * The mandatory retirement age for most judges was raised from 70 to 75 years as of March 2022. Judges can still hold a post

in retirement, on a fee-paid basis - known as judges sitting in retirement - please see Chapter 11. ↩ * In this section, the recommendation rate is calculated as the volume recommended as a

percentage of the volume of applicants. Figures are calculated exactly and then rounded to the nearest whole number for presentation in the report. ↩ * In the 2022 Judicial Attitudes Survey,

which is not directly comparable to the membership databases of the legal regulators, 15% of fee paid judges and 10% of salaried judges who responded reported having a disability. ↩ * There

may be some judges who hold another appointment in other sections of this report in which they are not sitting in retirement. These judges will be counted in both sets of figures. ↩ *

Figures do not add up to 13% due to rounding. ↩ * Magistrates recruitment is an ongoing process, that does not always conclude within a 12 month window, and will differ across regions and

Advisory Committee areas. As such, any recruitment data, particularly in regard to recruitment stages should be caveated with this understanding, that it is live data as part of an ongoing

process. ↩ * Not all of these applications will have reached a final decision by the end of the period covered by this report (31 March 2024); those would be waiting for a shortlisting

decision or for a recommendation decision. ↩ * Figures do not add up to 30% due to rounding. ↩ * Appointments are presented rather than recommendations as in last year’s report. Table 3.8a

presents revised figures for 2022/23. ↩ * Appointment figures for 2023/24 consist of applications to the magistracy made on ATS in 2022/23 as well as 2023/24. However, these figures will not

include the 21 appointments which resulted from applications made before the launch of the new system in January 2022. ↩ Back to top