Judicial diversity in common law jurisdictions outside of England and Wales

The findings suggest that in other common law jurisdictions:

• The evidence base regarding diversity within the legal professions and the judiciary is dominated by evidence of barriers to diversity rather than evidence of diversity initiatives.
• There appears to be little evidence at present around specific initiatives to improve diversity and much of the existing evidence is of poor quality, especially within the judiciary. There is a need for accessible and early career training on the pathways and skills required to be a judge, as well as implementing flexible working opportunities and policies.
• Currently, efforts to improve diversity seem to concentrate on encouraging the consideration of diversity, rather than structured programmes of activity. Suggestions of developing more mentoring opportunities, implementing unconscious bias training, equality and diversity training and proactive recruitment from underrepresented groups, alongside training on how to apply for judicial selection and prepare for interviews were noted as areas for future development.
• Gender is the most widely targeted diversity characteristic, with encouragement for focusing on a broader range of diversity characteristics including LGBTQ+
• The evidence base regarding the effectiveness of efforts to improve judicial diversity is very weak, emphasising the importance of the collation and monitoring of diversity monitoring data.