Irvine backs appointments systemJUDGES: extraordinary that the Law Society had opted out of the consultation process, says Lord Chancellor at AWS dinnerThe Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, defended last week the current system for appointing judges, as he called on the Law Society to rejoin the consultation...The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, defended last week the current system for appointing judges, as he called on the Law Society to rejoin the consultation process.

Speaking at the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS) annual dinner just a week after Sir Colin Campbell was appointed as the first Commissioner for Judicial Appointments, Lord Irvine said: We have a judiciary, appointed on merit alone, which will over time become more representative.

He predicted that more women would graduate to the bench as soon as the pool of post-20-year qualified practitioners became larger.But Lord Irvine again rejected any suggestion that women should benefit from positive discrimination.

He said: Any insistence that, over night, the profile of silks and the judiciary can be changed to reflect the profile of the whole profession today, as distinct from the profile of 20 or more years ago, which is where the current pool of candidates comes from, is misplaced.

Lord Irvine said it was a misconception that women were doing poorly in progressing to the bench.

He said those women with more than 15 years experience accounted for slightly more than 14% of practising solicitors and about 15.5% of practising barristers.

The figures for 20 years experience were nearly 10% and 11.5% respectively.

Against that background, said Lord Irvine, women made up about 33.5% of all the appointments made to the bench through open competition in 1999/2000.

Lord Irvine also used the event to urge the Law Society to rejoin the consultation process for the appointment of judges and QCs.

The Society withdrew from the secret soundings after consistently campaigning for a judicial appointments commission standing outside of the control of the Lord Chancellor (see [1999] Gazette, 29 September, 1).

He said it was extraordinary that the Law Society had opted out of the consultation process at the time when solicitors need all the backing they could get.

He went on to say he would keep an open mind about further reform in the shape of a commission which would have more than a supervisory role in the appointment of judges.

Law Society Vice-President David McIntosh responded by suggesting the position would be kept under review.

Mr McIntosh said: As a litigation practitioner I would like the Law Society to be able to fight the corner for solicitor-applicants for judicial appointments with the benefit of an independent judicial appointments commission in place.

He added: The appointment of an independent commissioner to participate in the current imperfect process is a big step in the right direction and the Law Society will be keeping under review the profile of appointments.Jonathan AmesSee Editorial, page 14