§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many judges were(a) barristers and (b) solicitors; and if he will make a statement on the trends in appointments.
Mr. John M. TaylorAs at 1 April 1994 there were 509 circuit judges in office, of whom 449 had been barristers and 60 had been solicitors at the time of their appointment. There were 95 High Court judges of whom 94 had been barristers and one a solicitor. All other Supreme Court judges had been barristers and all Lords of Appeal had been barristers or members of the Faculty of Advocates in Scotland. By comparison, as at 1 October 1991, 46 out of the 446 circuit judges and none of the more senior judges in office had been solicitors at the time of their appointment. It continues to be the Lord Chancellor's policy to appoint to each judicial post the candidate who appears to him to be best qualified to fill it.