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Sumption's comments assume that what makes the English judiciary excellent is that it contains a particular type of person who would be put off from becoming a judge if different dynamics applied.

This type has been referred to as a "brain on a stick", perhaps overlaid with qualities of clubbability. Lord Sumption is such a supreme example of this type that he was appointed straight to the Supreme Court.

It could be, though, that the legal system would be better served by more rounded people as judges, whose brains are only the size of a moon, rather than a planet, and who haven't spent 80 hours a week for 30 years honing their mental faculties, but can make do with a reasonable amount of high-level legal experience combined with other life experiences.

Who knows, this might actually attract another type of man to the job, as well as women.