News

Listen to Professor Kate Malleson’s podcast for International Women’s Day on the triumphs and struggles of women in the legal sphere and the ongoing fight for gender equality. International Women’s Day Podcast [MP3 4.08 MB]

In an interview for the Supreme Court Blog, Lady Hale, referring to herself as ‘Ms Diversity’ ,comments that she is ‘quite embarrassed to be the only Justice to tick a lot of the diversity boxes’. She argues that: ‘The most obvious barrier to the progression of women in the judiciary is that high judicial office … Read more

On 1 June 2010 Dame Jill Black was appointed to the Court of Appeal, having previously sat in the Family Division of the High Court. Her appointment brings the total number of women in the Court of Appeal to four. However, this still represents less than 12 percent of the membership of the Court. See … Read more

The Equal Justices Initiative (EJI) welcomes the appointment of Elena Kagan to the USSC. Kagan is the fourth woman to be appointed to the court and brings the total of women on the US Supreme Court bench, for the first time, to three. This is in stark contrast to the position of the UK Supreme … Read more

The Ministry of Justice has publishes a statistical digest of judicial appointments of women and BME candidates from 1998/99 to 2008/09. The figures reveal some increase in the proportion of women applying and appointed to the lower ranks of the judiciary but very little change at the higher levels. The Ministry also stresses that the … Read more

Professor Rosemary Hunter writes in the Barrister Magazine on the recent failure to appoint a second woman to the UK’s top court. Read Professor Hunter’s article [pdf 145kb]

We are delighted to learn that Lady Hale has been elected President of the International Association of Women Judges. Lady Hale was instrumental in setting up the UK Association of Women Judges and has long been a champion of bringing women (and male) judges together to talk about legal issues affecting women and women judges. … Read more

The Equal Justices Initiative (EJI) welcomes the news that President Obama has nominated Elena Kagan to the USSC. If appointed, she will become the third woman out of nine justices on the court. In light of the recent controversy surrounding the application of Jonathan Sumption QC for appointment to the UK Supreme Court, we note … Read more

Download the EJI response to the Report of the Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity [PDF 100kb]

Sir John Dyson has been appointed as the twelfth member of the Supreme Court. While Sir John is a first-rate judge and is undoubtedly well-qualified to join the Supreme Court, it is deeply disappointing to see that the opportunity has been missed to appoint a second woman to the Court. Mary Arden was, apparently, short-listed … Read more