On Tuesday 28 February the Employed Barristers’ Committee and Inner Temple’s Employed Bar Forum brought together a panel of speakers to shine a light on how they secured judicial appointment coming from the position of employed barristers.
As Chair and Vice Chair of the Employed Barristers’ Committee (EBC) Stuart Alford KC and I are committed to breathing life into the recommendations arising from and contained within the Life at the Employed Bar report, which was published in early 2023. We listened closely to our fellow practitioners and set out nine recommendations that we believe will help shape and promote the Employed Bar as we move into the EBC’s 25th year. One such recommendation was to increase the opportunity for judicial appointments for those at the Employed Bar.
Nearly ten years ago, Lady Hale stated that the law, the legal profession and the courts are there to serve the whole population and not just a small section of it, and so should be as reflective of that population as it is possible to be. The Employed Bar is an incredibly diverse group with many members of the profession coming from a variety of backgrounds and offering a wealth of experience in different areas of law. We believe that encouraging more employed barristers to follow the path towards judicial appointment will improve the diversity of the courts as a whole and pays tribute to Lady Hale’s sentiments.
With this in mind, we set out to gather a panel of practitioners who had taken those steps and been successful in getting a judicial appointment whilst at the Employed Bar to impart their wisdom, experience and guidance to others who might be thinking of following in their footsteps. We could not have asked for a better panel, introduced by Master Sara Lawson, General Counsel at the Serious Fraud Office.
Brie Stevens-Hoare KC is a barrister commissioner at the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC). She is a passionate supporter of diversity and inclusion and started our panel discussion with a much-needed practical guide to judicial appointment, setting out the ‘when’s, the ‘why’s and the ‘how’s of the process in clear terms. This was invaluable to those who had perhaps thought it to be an impenetrable system and ‘not for me’, as some of our members had expressed previously. Her clear and pragmatic advice both during and after the session allowed prospective applicants to ask about those tricky issues which often deter people from applying, and which I am quite certain will have done an enormous amount to encourage future applicants.
Venetia Jackson followed Brie. She gave a refreshingly human account of her own decision to apply for a judicial position whilst in employed practice. She gave valuable insight and guidance on sitting part time as a tribunal judge whilst juggling a busy practice at Pinsent Masons with a young family. She also gave a thoroughly honest account of the application process and how she took valuable learning from previous unsuccessful attempts when making repeat applications. Her mantra of ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again’ was wonderfully positive and inspiring. She also provided excellent practical examples of how to satisfy competency examples regardless of whether you have a litigation practice.
She gave a refreshingly human account of her own decision to apply for a judicial position whilst in employed practice. She gave valuable insight and guidance on sitting part time as a tribunal judge whilst juggling a busy practice at Pinsent Masons with a young family.
Charlotte Welsh, who secured a full-time position in the Immigration Tribunal whilst working at the Crown Prosecution Service and now sits in the Upper Tribunal and as a Criminal Recorder, gave an invaluable insight into what it was like to sit in an area that was entirely different to the one she had practised in. She started her session with a stark reminder of the value of panel discussions such as this and explained how her own path to a judicial appointment had been fuelled by attending a similar session several years ago. Her account also served to remind attendees not to think narrowly about where they might apply to sit and how their experience could apply equally to positions outside their practice area. Looking outside one’s comfort zone and thinking about transferable skills was a valuable message from Charlotte which struck home with the attendees and anyone thinking of appointment in the future.
Mr Justice Leech followed with his own account of his progression from chambers to employed practice at Herbert Smith Freehills, to Deputy High Court Judge and then to full-time High Court Judge in the Chancery Division. He spoke, amongst other matters, to the benefits of being an employed practitioner when appointed to sit, telling how it provided him with greater opportunity and time to take up a judicial role and combine it with his busy practice.
He spoke, amongst other matters, to the benefits of being an employed practitioner when appointed to sit, telling how it provided him with greater opportunity and time to take up a judicial role and combine it with his busy practice.
We are indebted to all four of our panel members for their open, candid and energetic commitment to encouraging employed barristers to consider a judicial career and I hope that others who attended and who take the opportunity to view the recording of this session will be inspired by their advice.
We are also indebted to The Inner Temple for their unstinting support of the Employed Bar. As a member of the Inn since 1996 and a Bencher since 2022 I am immensely proud of the proactive and progressive approach that The Inner Temple takes to diversity and inclusion. From the very outset of my career at the Bar, The Inner Temple has continued to advance the practice of all barristers regardless of whether they are employed or self-employed and is a true stalwart of the ‘one Bar’ philosophy. We look forward to hosting further panel discussions aimed at increasing visibility and inclusion for employed practitioners and would encourage everyone to attend our next event on 9 October 2023, which will discuss the benefits of being a member of Circuit and the work that the South Eastern Circuit is doing with the Employed Bar.
Heidi Stonecliffe KC
Crown Prosecution Service
Master of the Bench
