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Lord Chancellor and Law Society disagree on positive action

01 January 1991

Lord Chancellor and Law Society disagree on positive action
artdoc May=1991

The Lord Chancellor, addressing the legal profession at a meeting at the
Inner Temple Hall, rejected calls for a reform of the system of judicial
appointments so that the number of women and ethnic minority judges
would be increased. His statement comes after the annual meeting of the
Law Society in Glasgow called for `positive action' to remove historic
discrimination from the judicial appointments system. But Lord MacKay
of Clashfern says that judges needed to be appointed on merit and that
`it is a simple fact that, at present, there are not enough women or
ethnic minority candidates in the legal profession in the appropriate
age groups who are suitable for appointment'. Tony Holland, President
of the Law Society agreed that appointments should be made on merit but
disputed whether the present system achieved this. (Independent
19.10.90)

IRR Police-Media Bulletin, no 65. Institute of Race Relations, 2-6 Leeke
Street, London WC1X 9HS