In depth: The bench is failing to diversify as it struggles to recruit

Evidence to the Senior Salaries Review Body’s major review of the judicial salary structure this week reopened debate over the disparity between the success of solicitors and barristers in applying to join the bench – and suggests that more pay may not be the only means of securing its future vigour.

The Ministry of Justice submitted that the proportion of judges saying they would consider leaving has fallen from 41% to 39% in three years. Retention in the salaried judiciary is ‘very high’, with the vast majority of judges leaving solely due to retirement. 

Around 1,117 salaried judges could potentially leave by 2029. This figure, suggested by the Judicial Attitudes Survey 2024, includes salaried judges reaching mandatory retirement age, those planning to leave early and those undecided about leaving early.

The MoJ’s evidence detailed ‘persistent shortfalls’ on the district bench and in specific regions. ‘High-volume’ recruitment continues, with 1,000 judges and tribunal members sought annually.

As the judiciary ages and gaps persist, it notes that much of the legal profession remains relatively untapped for potential judicial candidates. This of course means solicitors, who number 141,000, not including trainees or partners, compared with a barrister population of 15,800. 

For all judicial recruitment exercises in 2024/25, solicitors accounted for more than half (56%) of applications, but only 37% of recommendations. Barristers made up 44% of applications but 63% of recommendations. The proportion of non-barristers among both courts and tribunal judges has fallen from 45% to 40% since 2017, perhaps the most concerning statistic of all. Diversity has firmly gone into reverse. 

Barriers to judicial office faced by employed barristers and solicitors include employers’ reluctance to release staff for fee-paid judicial office, the MoJ stated.

'Solicitor applicants still face structural barriers if over-reliance on advocacy experience as an indicator of judicial competence exists'

The Law Society

The department ‘continues to consider policy options to increase the proportion of judges who do not have a background as a barrister, as outlined in the priorities in the judicial diversity forum priorities and actions’, noting the ‘diversity challenge’ created by the disparity. ‘Overall, employed barristers and solicitors are more diverse than the self-employed bar.’

The Law Society’s draft evidence highlighted its long-standing concern ‘about the continued underrepresentation of solicitors’. Many solicitor judges report taking a pay cut to join the bench, the Society stressed. 

Chancery Lane continued: ‘Despite incremental progress, solicitor applicants still face structural barriers if over-reliance on advocacy experience as an indicator of judicial competence exists, perceptions about professional background, and fewer informal networks can hinder progression.’

Practical and cultural barriers ‘continue to deter strong solicitor applicants’, while ‘limited solicitor role models in the judiciary, alongside lower progression rates and no solicitor KCs appointed this year, show the need for renewed action to tackle both procedural and cultural barriers and ensure the judiciary draws on the full breadth of professional talent.’

In 2024/25, judicial remuneration totalled £778m across the salaried and fee-paid judiciary – but more than money is needed to make the bench attractive, the MoJ said. Its own research, by Dr Sophie Turenne of the University of Cambridge, found that while remuneration was a ‘key factor’, it is not the only one.

‘The wider picture involving the recruitment process, location of work, work-life balance and the nature of the work were also important considerations.’ 

Pay increases ‘failed’ to address recruitment shortfalls, the MoJ said, but recruitment focusing on specific regions or chambers most affected is currently being trialled. This has shown early success ‘in increasing capacity where most needed’.

The good news is that recruitment for leadership and senior roles in the High Court and above met all vacancy requests in the last year. However, recruitment exercises for district judges (county and magistrates’ courts), employment judges and first-tier tribunal judges have registered shortfalls in meeting vacancy requests since 2019. District judges (county court) shortfalls are concentrated and persistent in London and the south-east. The same area has seen shortfalls in circuit judges, particularly in the crime jurisdiction.

Reasons for this are ‘complex’, the MoJ said, ‘but may include higher legal salaries and cost of living.’

The north-east has also been ‘consistently more challenging to recruit than other regions’, with ‘persistent capacity gaps’ for district and circuit judges, while ‘the cluster of Humber and South Yorkshire is a particularly difficult area to recruit, deploy and retain judicial resources’.

The SSRB aims to submit its advice to the government by November.