No Rush For More Women At The Top Of The Legal Profession, Says Senior Judge

Lord Sumption warns rushing to achieve equality
would damage the judiciary

By Lexi Finnigan: Equal numbers of female judges could inflict “appalling consequences” on the quality of British justice, warns a Supreme Court judge.

Lord Sumption said he believed the judiciary was a “terrific public asset” which could be “destroyed very easily” if the selection of candidates was skewed in favour of women.

To avoid causing damage, he added that equality campaigners would need to be “patient” and suggested it could take up to 50 years before the number of women on the Bench matched the total number of men.

Lord Sumption, 66, also claimed it was “rubbish” to say that the law was run by an “old boys’ network” and insisted instead that the lack of female judges was mainly the result of a “lifestyle choice” by women unwilling to tolerate long hours and poor working conditions.

The overall proportion of female court judges is currently just over 25 per cent.
In an interview with the Evening Standard, he also suggested that British courts could successfully protect citizens from oppression if the Government went ahead with its plan to replace the Human Rights Act with new legislation.
He also called for “radical” reforms to reduce legal costs and spoke of his concern for the “terrible” plight faced by young Londoners seeking to buy homes.

Before becoming a Supreme Court judge in 2012, Jonathan Sumption was one of the country’s most highly paid QCs, representing Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and Tony Blair’s communications chief Alastair Campbell, among others.
Away from the legal profession, he has had great success as an historian. 

Edited by AGA

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