According to annual diversity statistics released by the Ministry of Justice earlier this week, non-barristers accounted for 30% of all court judges this year – last year it was 31%. The latest figure represents a decrease of four percentage points from 2016.
Non-barristers remain better represented in the tribunals, at 60%, though this represents a decrease of five percentage points from 2016.
Women accounted for 40% of court judges this year – 12 percentage points higher than in 2016, and 54% of tribunal judges, 10 percentage points higher than in 2016.
While the proportion of Asian and mixed-ethnicity judges has slowly increased, the proportion of black judges has barely shifted, from 1.4% to 1.6%, in a decade.
Diversity of the Judiciary: 2026 Statistics
