A PACKAGE of reforms to how judges are chosen was accepted by government ministers yesterday.

The measures were drawn up by a panel asked to look into boosting diversity on the bench.

They include asking solicitors’ firms to be more willing to allow staff to take part-time judicial roles.

A report published yesterday also recommends giving preferential treatment to minority applicants if certain sections of the Equality Bill become law – and if two candidates are otherwise equally matched.

Senior Liverpool lawyer Andrew Holroyd, managing partner of Jackson & Canter, who was among the panellists, told LDP Legal: “The quality of our judiciary is envied. That we have a judiciary that’s high quality and independent is the envy of the world. But, at the same time, we need to make sure it has members of the judiciary from a wide variety of backgrounds.

“Getting a diverse judiciary is a slow process, it’s not going to happen overnight. Progress has been made.”

The five-strong panel met 11 times since being selected nine months ago.

It was chaired by life peer Baroness Neuberger.

Currently, just one in five of all judges sitting in courts in England and Wales are women and fewer than 5% are from ethnic minority groups.

Only three of the 163 most senior judges sitting in the High Court, Supreme Court and Court of Appeal are from minority groups. The report said it was wrong for members of the judiciary to be drawn from a “narrow and homogenous group” that does not reflect the society it serves.

It called on law firms and senior judges to encourage employees from under-represented groups to apply for judicial office.