Law Weblog

Once a judge, always a judge

The convention that prevents judges from returning to private practice will remain in place.
The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Jack Straw, said lifting the prohibition would not increase diversity in the judiciary and that the ban would therefore remain in place.
Whitehall launched a consultation paper on the subject last year, the result became known on 5 November, some 8 months later.
Only a handful of former judges have moved into consultancy roles in private practice. In 2005 Patents Court judge Sir Hugh Laddie controversially quit the bench to take up a consultancy role with a specialist intellectual property firm.