Persuading more solicitors to apply for judicial posts is ‘absolutely key’ to increasing diversity in the judiciary, the chairwoman of the Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity told the Gazette this week, as the panel published a raft of recommendations aimed at improving diversity on the bench.

Baroness Neuberger said law firms should regard it as their ‘public duty’ to encourage their lawyers to take up part-time judicial work, in the same way that they undertake pro bono work.

Five leading City firms which formed a working group to inform the review also pledged to lead the way in ensuring greater participation on the bench from City solicitors. Magic circle firms Linklaters, Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and City firm Herbert Smith called for a change in ‘present custom’ so that ‘solicitors in their 40s’ should be encouraged by firms to take on a fee-paid recorder role, rather than firms regarding this as a ‘quick way out of serious work’.

The firms agreed to take the lead on the issue and set up a monitoring group to assess what progress they have made.

Neuberger’s report makes 53 recommendations to increase diversity. These include ensuring that flexible working is offered much more widely to attract the ‘large numbers of ­talented women who are lost to the profession when they have a family’.

Further proposals include revising the Judicial Appointments Commission’s criteria for assessing merit to include a reference to diversity; simplifying the payment regime for solicitor fee-paid judges to remove tax complications; turning the Judicial Studies Board into a college which would provide courses to support applicants, including those who have had a career break; and encouraging lawyers in the public sector to apply for fee-paid roles in jurisdictions where a conflict is unlikely to arise.

Neuberger, who was commissioned by justice secretary Jack Straw to write the 110-page report and sought the views of around 180 people, told the Gazette there needed to be a ‘change of heart’ among law firms in the way they view judicial appointments. She added: ‘The City firms all do pro bono work, and this should be part of it. It also looks very good for law firms to have a judge coming from that firm.’

Neuberger added that she is confident the proposals will be implemented.