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Three judges appointed to Supreme Court bench

Re: Anon@3:18pm - I understand from the legal grapevine that Arden has applied at least once before (unsuccessfully, obviously), so (assuming she applied again) must have been unlikely to succeed this time. If that is so, precisely who are the women judges whom Anon@3:40(1) think were better qualified for these vacancies than Hughes, Toulson and Hodge? Good things have been said about Black LJ, but there is no need for another SCJ with a family law background. Both Hale and Wilson are ex-Family Division judges; while Hughes is too, his background was largely in criminal law and this appointment brings extremely valuable expertise to a Court that lacks really deep experience in that field. Toulson is an outstandingly good judge who will be a real asset to the SC across all fields. As for Hale's suggestion of a "Welsh judge", we must first define what that curious term means. Given that there is no "Welsh law" [sic] jurisdiction at present (and there will not be one for some time, judging by the results of the recent consultation on this issue) and thus no "Welsh judges", it is right to describe this suggestion as utter nonsense. While Kerr is very good, I agree with Anon@3:40(2) about it being completely wrong for the NICA judges to have a 1 in 3 chance of appointment each time the NI SCJ retires.

26-Feb-2013

6:27 pm