Senior judge calls for more judicial diversity

THE JUDICIARY should make efforts to become more diverse so the public do not feel judges are “beings from another planet”, the Yorkshire-born president of the Supreme Court has said.

Lady Hale, inset, who was born in Leeds and lives in Richmond, spoke of the need to increase diversity in terms of gender, ethnicity and social background so people would see the judiciary as “our judges”, she told The Guardian.

Sworn in as the first female president of the UK’s highest court in October 2017, Lady Hale is one of three female justices on the 12-seat Supreme Court.

Speaking to the paper on the centenary of the Sex Disqualification Act which allowed women to enter into professions, Lady Hale said: “My own view is up to a quarter (on the UK supreme court) is an important breakthrough but that there’s no right number of justices of either gender.

“An ideal balance would be at least 60/40 either way.” She also said that a more diverse judiciary would help bring “different perspectives to the discussion”, adding: “The greater the diversity, the better.”

In an interview with The Yorkshire Post in 2018, Lady Hale refused to back the idea of positive discrimination or blind CVs as championed by the Government. But she called for “affirmative action” to encourage people from different backgrounds to apply, mentoring, and more flexibility within the profession.