A leading woman barrister attacked the government's approach to widening the diversity of the judiciary as being potentially 'divisive and damaging' at the International Bar Association (IBA) conference in Auckland.


Barbara Hewson of Hardwicke Civil Chambers, in London, told IBA delegates that the recent Department for Constitutional Affairs consultation paper was confused and failed to recognise the existing diversity on the English bench.



She also strongly criticised as dangerous proposals in the consultation paper that would allow lawyers to return to private practice after a stint on the bench.



'In my experience, judges are not slow to understand the circumstances in which people find themselves,' said Ms Hewson. 'Yet the government's consultation paper maintains that this is a major problem. You would think from the paper that we have an entirely monochrome bench, but that is not true.'



Ms Hewson attacked suggestions that lawyers could dip into a career on the bench before returning to practice. She said that while ministers might view such a move as a method of widening the pool of potential candidates, it would lead to a lowering of the level of the independence of the judiciary.



She said allowing judges to return to private practice could cause them to take unfair decisions for lawyers and law firms with whom they wanted to curry favour.



New Zealand's leading judge supported Ms Hewson's view. Chief Justice Sian Elias said judges should not be allowed to return to private practice.