Black judges: when will the number rise?

Every year, when the judicial diversity statistics are published, the first thing I check is the proportion of court judges who are black. Why? Because it’s been 1%... since 2014.

The latest statistics were published yesterday. 'Could this be the year?’ I asked myself as I opened the document. My heart sunk when I read that the proportion of black individuals hasn't changed. Of the 3,667 court judges on 1 April, 41 were black.

David Lammy MP, who called for diversity targets in his landmark race review of the criminal justice system, said in 2021 that it was an ‘absolute scandal’ that the proportion of black judges had not increased. That same year I pressed the lord chief justice on the 1% figure. He told me judicial diversity was a complicated business requiring more than a recital of headline statistics. ‘If we are recruiting district judges who are 50, let us say, we are looking back to what was going on in schools and universities 30 years ago when things were different.'

Am I being unrealistic in expecting that 1% figure to budge anytime soon?

The Judicial Diversity Committee has acknowledged progress on increasing the number of black judges has been too slow. But if we are to pin our hopes that the work being done now will make a difference in the future, we need details.

In a Judicial Diversity and Inclusion Strategy update last year, Lady Justice Whipple, chair of the Judicial Diversity Committee of the Judge’s Council, noted that the number of black professionals securing judicial appointment remained at 1%. ‘Whilst acknowledging that the applicant pool of black legal professionals that can be drawn on is very small, this is an area we will focus on over the next year and beyond.’ The update said the judiciary had ‘already identified a need for activities that support black lawyers effectively’.

The next update will be published early next year. We should be told the details of those activities, how many black lawyers they supported, how helpful they were, how many of those black lawyers they helped went on to apply for judicial appointment, how many were shortlisted and how many were recommended. (See, also, a blog I wrote in 2022 with some other important questions that remain to be answered). 

If it’s going to be a while until the proportion of black judges reaches 2%, we need to see that the work being done to support black lawyers is moving in the right direction.