Encouragement of diversity
“The law, the legal profession and the courts are there to serve the whole population, not just a small section of it. They should be as reflective of that population as it is possible to be.”
Baroness Hale of Richmond | Former President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
The Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland (JABS) is committed to ensuring that all selection processes are fair and open and that all applicants receive equal treatment. JABS has an obligation set out in Section 14 of the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008 (‘the 2008 Act’) which states:
“In carrying out its functions, the Board must have regard for the need to encourage diversity in the range of individuals available for selection to be recommended for appointment to a judicial office”
The 2008 Act also says however that recommendation must be solely on merit. How then do JABS reconcile the two?
JABS recognises that ‘diversity’ is more than just protected characteristics. We encourages applications from the widest possible range of applicants regardless of age (subject of course to applicants meeting the eligibility requirements for roles), disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, race, religion or belief system, sexual orientation or socio-economic background.
As part of the recruitment process, we collect anonymous diversity information from applicants. This information is collated and used at a wash up meeting which his held after a competition has concluded. It is at this meeting that we review the diversity information for the competition and considers how it can be used to help future competitions. This could be by way of increased stakeholder engagement, or by holding specific outreach events for various demographics we may identify a need to better connect with.
The diversity information collected is also published in our annual reports which are available to read on the JABS website.
Part of JABS approach to the encouragement of diversity is outreach and engagement with various stakeholders such as The Law Society, The Faculty of Advocates, The Glasgow and Edinburgh Bar Associations, The Scottish Ethnic Minority Lawyers Association and [INSERT OTHER STAKEHOLDERS].
This engagement helps JABS understand where there are areas of underrepresentation, gives us the opportunity to learn more about the attitude of these underrepresented groups toward judicial office and gives us insight into whether there are any barriers, real or perceived, which are preventing members of these groups from applying for judicial office.