London High Court launches pilot recruitment programme aimed to increase Diversity

The London High Court has launched a pilot recruitment programme aimed to increase the diversity of its pool of judges, promising mentoring and support for those from “non-traditional” backgrounds.

The Diversity Support Initiative pilot, launched via the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary website (8th April) , is designed to attract more exceptionally talented lawyers to sit in the High Court.

Women, people from minority ethnic backgrounds and those from “less advantaged” social and educational backgrounds who have no previous judicial experience will be eligible for the 30 spaces.

The programme does not guarantee them jobs and is completely separate from the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) selection process but aims to support them before and during that application process.

The pilot comes ahead of a JAC selection process, scheduled for July, which will appoint 14 people as deputy High Court judges.

The initiative, led by Lady Justice Heather Hallett, will provide work shadowing for candidates this month and the next, followed by mentoring in May to June and a workshop later in June to provide guidance on the selection process.

In announcing the initiative via video, Lady Justice Hallett said the judiciary was slowly becoming more diverse but progress was slow.

“We fear we may be missing out on a pool of talent for whom the traditional route is not an option… These are people who would bring a whole range of skills and abilities on top of their first class legal knowledge and experience,” she said.

The newly appointed deputy High Court judges, whether they have taken part in the support programme or not, will then be given training and the opportunity to sit in the High Court for up to 30 days so that they will be able to compete on a more level playing field in the 2016 and 2017 High Court judge selection exercises.

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