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Britain to try out speedier judge selection

Britain’s Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is to experiment with faster judge appointments.

Britain’s current judicial appointments process can take over 50 weeks, and the JAC wants to reduce the timeframe. 

The changes are in response to recommendations from the Independent Review of Criminal Courts (IRCC), led by Sir Brian Leveson.

Flexible recruitment model

This review called for a more flexible recruitment model to help improve resource forecasting for the courts.

Over the next few months, the JAC will run a pilot across four large judicial-selection exercises, to trial removing an online scenario test as a shortlisting stage.

The selection process will have additional follow-up questions, to closer replicate the job for which candidates are applying.

The changes will cut current timelines by 25%, saving around 12 weeks for each judicial-selection exercise, JAC has said.