Highest percentage of women appointed High Court judges

Five women have been recommended for appointment as High Court judges, making up 36 per cent of the total - the highest proportion ever recorded by the Judicial Appointments Commission.

The JAC said that in the three previous comparable High Court selections, the highest percentage recorded was only 23 per cent, followed by 15 and 14 per cent.

Sue Carr QC, a recorder since 2009, started work as a judge last week. She will be joined in October by Frances Patterson QC, a law commissioner for over three years. Names of the three remaining judges will be announced shortly.

However, the JAC said the proportion of solicitors applying to be judges had fallen, particularly in the past three years. It is understood this is not because of a lack of solicitors applying but because the number of barristers has greatly increased.

Just 1 per cent of High Court applications were from solicitors in private practice and, not surprisingly, none were successful.

In contrast women applying to the High Court easily outperformed men. Female candidates made up only 17 per cent of applications, but 29 per cent of those shortlisted for interview.

Christopher Stevens, chairman of the JAC, said: "Women have been making good progress at the entry and middle levels of the judiciary for some time and it is very positive to see this filtering through to the High Court, which had a very strong field of candidates.

"Further encouragement can be taken from the most recent Court of Appeal selections, in which three of the 10 judges recommended were women; and the fact that 43 per cent (21 in total) of the individuals authorised in 2012/13 to sit as a deputy judge of the High Court were women."

Justice minister Helen Grant said the number of women achieving positions in the judiciary was encouraging.

"The work done by government, the JAC and other partners is key to keeping up this momentum," Grant said. "Where more remains to be done, we will continue our push to promote diversity at all levels of the judiciary."

Solicitors accounted for 57 per cent of applications for district judge, but only 47 per cent of recommendations for appointment.

They were even less successful in obtaining deputy district judge posts, achieving 52 per cent of recommendations while making up 65 per cent of applications.

Law students at Durham Law School struggled to identify the gender of Court of Appeal judges in a research project for BBC's Law in Action, broadcast later today.

Following a suggestion from Lord Neuberger, 30 law students studied 16 anonymised judgments from the Court of Appeal, half made by male judges, half by female.

Professor Erika Rackley, who carried out the project, said rulings were attributed to judges of the correct gender in only 46 per cent of cases. Employment and family judgments were easier to attribute, but criminal rulings more difficult.