The attractiveness of senior judicial appointment to highly qualified practitioners

Prize for distinguished scholarship and she holds Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Edinburgh, Leicester and Kingston. She worked with the Judicial Studies Board for 12 years, serving as a member of the Main Board and the Tribunals Committee, and was closely involved in the design and delivery of training for the judiciary at all levels. She served for eight years as Deputy Chair and then Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council's Research Grants Board. She has a long-standing research interest in civil justice and has published widely in the field. She recently delivered the 2008 Hamlyn Lectures on the subject of civil justice. In recognition of her work on civil justice, she was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2000 and appointed DBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2006. That year she was also made an honorary Queen's Counsel (QC). In 2008 she was elected an Honorary Master of the Bench of Gray's Inn. The Judicial Executive Board is pleased to publish this report by Professor Dame Hazel Genn DBE, QC analysing the reasons why senior practitioners who are generally regarded as suitable for appointment as High Court judges either do or do not apply. As well as being one of the most distinguished academics in her field, Hazel Genn is also a member of the Judicial Appointments Commission. It is important, therefore, to point out the research was not conducted by her as a Commissioner. It was conducted on behalf of the Judicial Executive Board. Her report is not the work of the Commission and does not bind or commit the Commission. Moreover, the research was not commissioned because of any concerns about the success of the Judicial Appointments Commission in attracting high quality candidates to apply for appointment to the High Court; in fact the two High Court selection exercises it has conducted have been notably successful. It is, nevertheless, clear that there are a number of apparently highly qualified potential candidates who do not apply, and it was thought important to discover why they do not. The research is based on interviews conducted in late 2007 and early 2008 with six recently appointed High Court judges and 29 highly qualified barristers and solicitors. I believe this is the first research of its kind, and it provides some interesting insights. Some confirm what one would expect – it has …