At least four senior judges have resigned from the men-only Garrick Club, the Justice Office said, as men in the legal profession come under increasing pressure over their close ties to the organization, which has repeatedly blocked plans to allow women to join. try.
The office confirmed that Court of Appeal judge Sir Keith Lindblom and High Court judges Sir Nicholas Cusworth, Sir Nicholas Lavender and Sir Ian Dove had resigned.
A spokesman added that it was possible that many more had done so but had not reported it to the Office of Justice, which provides training and HR advice to the judiciary in England and Wales.
The four judges are among dozens of members of the legal community who are now known to be involved. Their numbers include four more Court of Appeal judges, five more High Court judges, dozens of serving and retired judges, current and former ministers of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and numerous senior lawyers.
They follow the resignations of Simon Case, head of the civil service, and Richard Moore, head of MI6. Their decision to join the club in the first place was met with fierce criticism, and their decision to leave last week put further pressure on those who retained membership at the time.
The news comes after more than 80 lawyers across England and Wales signed an open letter calling on judges to give up their membership, saying it was “incompatible with core principles of justice, equality and fairness”.
Dr Charlotte Proudman, who coordinated the open letter with her fellow lawyer Elizabeth Traugott, said the signatories called on colleagues to resign from the club and for the club to allow women to join.
“I hope we see a domino effect and more and more people slowly start to resign. I certainly hope that by the end of this week all the judges have resigned from the Garrick Club. And if they don’t, we’ll have to see what happens next. What happened,” she told Sky News on Monday morning.
Following news of the latest judge’s resignation, Proudman said: “According to the Law Society’s report, women are under-represented at the bar and among senior judicial officers, there is a gender gap in earnings and there is a striking gender disparity. “With disparities in retention, promotion, job satisfaction and well-being for women, particularly those from non-white, non-traditional backgrounds, we have real problems when it comes to improving gender equality and equity in home bars.
“Private membership of the club is incompatible with public expressions of support for gender equality in pay and promotions. It appears that expressing words of support for gender equality is cheaper than Garrick membership.”
In addition to the open letter, barrister Karon Monaghan KC, who specializes in equality and human rights law, wrote in an opinion piece in the Guardian: “Judges becoming members sends such a message to women, including female lawyers and judges. The message: Where there is power, there is manliness. “Place.”
Helena Kennedy, a lawyer and Labor member of the House of Lords, advocates a US-style system that would ban judges from joining the Garrick coalition. The Code of Conduct for U.S. federal judges says they “should not hold membership in any organization that engages in objectionable discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, or national origin,” adding that such membership “could give rise to the perception that the judge is biased “got damage”.
