Courts are running out of qualified judges, peers are told

Vacancies for crown court and high court judges are increasingly being left unfilled because of a serious shortage of suitably qualified applicants, a select committee has been told.

The scale of the problem has been exposed in evidence to the Lords constitution committee, during which the justice secretary, Liz Truss, called on judges to speak about their roles more often in public.

Many judges are thinking of quitting the bench early because they feel poorly paid, undervalued and fear for their personal safety in court, a recent judicial attitudes survey revealed.

Lord Justice Burnett, vice-chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), told peers that in the most recent search for 55 new crown court judges, only 44 were selected for appointment.

The next round would be looking for far more – possibly as many as 140 new crown court judges, also known as circuit judges. “There seems to be a growing problem at the circuit bench level,” Burnett said.

Ajay Kakkar, chair of the JAC, said that in 2015 one high court position could not be filled. The following year six posts in the high court and family division of the high court were left vacant because no suitable candidates were available.

This year, the JAC is overseeing competitions for 25 new high court judges. “There could be a serious shortfall,” Lord Kakkar said. “I think there’s a real issue here … These trends are very worrying … It’s becoming more difficult to appoint to the judiciary.”

Circuit judges earn £134,000 and high court judges £180,000 a year, much less than successful QCs can earn in private practice. Burnett said that when he was appointed to the high court in 2008 that difference was already “very large indeed”. He added: “No one opts to join the judiciary unless they have a sense of public duty.”

Many solicitors did not apply to become judges, the committee was told, because their law firms were reluctant to lose high-earning partners and discouraged them from gaining experience.

The JAC is overseeing the selection of a new lord chief justice and the supreme court is seeking to recruit six news justice over the next 18 months.

Kakkar implied that the decision to limit the age for the new lord chief justice to 65 or under followed a meeting with Truss, in which she expressed a view about the required “criteria for a reasonable length of service”. The resulting JAC job description said that the successful candidate would be expected to serve for at least four years. Judges normally retire at 70.

The Labour MP Keith Vaz, a member of the justice select committee, has tabled a private members’ bill proposing that the age cap of 65 for those applying to be lord chief justice should be removed on the grounds that it will disbar prominent candidates such as Sir Brian Leveson and Lady Justice Hallett.

Vaz said: “The recent decision taken by the Judicial Appointments Commission is disappointing and arbitrarily rules out exceptional candidates for the position of Lord Chief Justice.

“If there are concerns that those appointed must serve for a reasonable length of time, exceptions can surely be made to delay retirement until heads of division have completed their service.”

Earlier, in response to questions about a Daily Mail headline branding judges ‘Enemies of the People’ following the first article 50 judgment, Truss said it would not have been appropriate to attack the newspaper.

She said: “It’s dangerous for a government minister to say this is not an acceptable headline. I’m also a very strong defender of the free press. I draw the line at saying what is acceptable for the press to print.

“The best way to respond to criticism [of the judges] is to make a positive case. In the modern age, everyone is subject to scrutiny. I think it’s important for the profession to talk about what they do.

“I want the public to see more of them. I think that strengthens the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. Other judges [as well as the supreme court, whose hearings are televised] should be able to talk to the public about what they do and that would attract more people to become judges.”

Truss said she had asked the Senior Salaries Review Board to look at the salary of judges but added: “A high court judge is paid £180,000. It’s a good salary as far as the public sector is concerned.”

In a separate development, the UK supreme court has announced that it will sit in Edinburgh in June, the first time it has sat outside London.

Several appeals will be heard over several days. At least five supreme court justices will be involved in the hearings in the city chambers formerly used by Edinburgh council. Lord Carloway, lord president of Scotland’s court of session, will sit alongside supreme court justices to hear at least one appeal.

Lord Neuberger, president of the supreme court, said: “We look forward to welcoming members of the public as well as lawyers during what is intended to be the first of a number of visits to the capital cities of the devolved nations.”

Source: The Guardian