The appointment of Lady Justice Hale to the House of Lords from January next year may prove a pivotal moment in the history of judicial appointments. Although her career has advanced under the traditional arrangement, she is nonetheless a symbol of the more diverse approach to background that the Government very much hopes its proposed new arrangements will encourage.
There can be little doubt that former Lord Chancellors Lords Irvine and Mackay took equal opportunities during their tenures as head of the judiciary seriously. Civil servants scoured the land for suitable appointments of women and those from ethnic minorities. Lord Irvine began the process of reporting on judicial appointments and published the fourth annual report last autumn. It contains no fewer then three tables relating to the progress of appointment of women. It also repeats the refrain, taken almost word for word from an oft-repeated apology of his predecessor: “whilst the Lord Chancellor aspires to a more diverse judiciary, he can only appoint judges from the pool of people who are interested in judicial office and who have the relevant experience”.
