Lord Chief Justice expresses concern at challenges in recruiting judges

In a speech at the 2022 Legal Wales Conference, held on 10 October, Lord Burnett of Maldon said: “The good news is that while there was a problem in recruitment to the High Court for a number of years that is no longer the case. The High Court is an important international showcase. It is welcome that the problems caused directly by the technical changes to judicial pensions, now reversed by legislation that came into force in April, were recognised by Government.”

However, on the problems with recent JAC exercises, he said the judiciary’s difficulties now arose in two particular areas.

“First, although recruitment to the circuit bench for the family and civil jurisdictions remains relatively buoyant, the recent recruitment round fell short in securing the number of judges we need to sit in the Crown Court. That is particularly disappointing because judicial resources in the Crown Court are one of the constraints of dealing with the increased outstanding caseload.”

The Lord Chief Justice also said recruitment of district judges for the county and family courts had fallen short for the last few years. “The problem is not universal and is most pronounced in London and the South East.”

He said the judiciary was working hard to encourage applications as were the JAC and the professions.

“But we are also looking hard at the jurisdiction of district judges and the nature of the work they do with a view to easing the burden through the use, for example, of standard directions, paper rather than oral hearings for very small claims, delegation of routine making of directions to legal advisers, the creation of virtual lists dealing with cases from overburdened parts of the country in courts with fewer problems and indeed much else. The last initiative has worked well already in the Employment Tribunal.”

The Lord Chief Justice meanwhile said that a “welcome” decision of the Court of Appeal in K v K would have the effect of curtailing the proliferation of wide-ranging fact finds in family cases “which appeared to be gaining a life of their own without the exercise being necessary for the decision of the court which was in fact being made. More family cases will be heard in the Magistrates' Court as capacity there increases, he added.

Lord Burnett said he had also commissioned detailed work in all jurisdictions to focus on what judges can do to improve the throughput of cases, deal with them with fewer hearings, avoid imposing disproportionate burdens on litigants and encourage all key players in each jurisdiction to work together to improve timeliness and thus reduce outstanding caseloads. “That work has already born fruit and will continue to do so in the months ahead,” he said.