Female judiciary ranks swelled with High Court appointment
The Ministry of Justice has appointed three new High Court judges, including 3 Stone Buildings silk Sarah Asplin.
Sarah Asplin QC
Asplin, who replaces the retiring Mr Justice Calvert-Smith, will be the second female judge in the Chancery Division alongside Mrs Justice Proudman.
The MoJ also announced the appointment of 4 New Square’s Jeremy Stuart-Smith QC and 20 Essex Street’s Stephen Males QC to the Queen’s Bench Division. Stuart-Smith replaces the retiring Mr Justice Butterfield and Males replaces Mr Justice Treacy, who has been appointed to the Court of Appeal.
Asplin was appointed silk in 2002 and focuses on pensions and related professional negligence and trusts disputes.
Stuart-Smith is primarily an insurance and professional negligence specialist. He was made a QC in 1997 and was head of chambers at 4 New Square between 2009 and 2011.
Commercial specialist Males was appointed silk in 1998.
All three appointments take effect in October.
Readers' comments (5)
TheLawMap | 11-Sep-2012 2:13 pm
I can't help but note a sense of achievement in the headline but the profession still has a long way to go in addressing equality issues. What is now needed are more female partners at the top firms. One in six appears to be the present state of being, it needs to be higher!
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Nelsonian Eye | 11-Sep-2012 5:57 pm
To chase the figure is meaningless! We only need to maintain a meritorious system. We must not sacrifice the quality of justice we get for some useless figures!
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Anonymous | 12-Sep-2012 6:30 am
They must get there on merit, not through a quota system masking low performers.
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Anonymous | 12-Sep-2012 10:19 am
Having known Sarah Asplin QC in a professional capacity for some years, I can assure any doubters that she is an excellent lawyer and an excellent judge - a role she has been doing on a part time basis for some time. It is absolutely right that not enough women are breaking through within the judiciary or indeed at the top of law firms, but Sarah Asplin is no 'token'
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Anonymous | 12-Sep-2012 12:12 pm
Agree with all said about Sarah Asplin. That said, this must be one of the less tumescent swellings of recent times.
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