Lawyers hope Lady Justice Sue Carr’s new role will help increase diversity in the judiciary.
Lady Justice Sue Carr will make history in October, becoming the first woman to hold the ancient office of lord chief justice of England and Wales.
The 58-year-old mother of three will replace the retiring Lord Burnett of Maldon, who has held the post since 2017.
Her appointment, announced last week, has been welcomed by lawyers, who hope that it will encourage other women to become judges and increase diversity, particularly among the senior judiciary. Only a third of judges are women.
It is understood that two judges were shortlisted for the £275,000-a-year role, and that both were women. The other candidate was said to be a fellow Court of Appeal judge, Dame Victoria Sharp, 67, the president of the King’s Bench Division.
Carr becomes the most senior judge in England and Wales at a time when the courts are viewed by many to be reeling from underinvestment and the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. The system is beset with lengthy case backlogs, a shortage of judges and low morale on the bench. Given the scale of the job of tackling those issues, candidates were expected to be able to serve for at least four years.
The appointment was made by the King on the advice of the prime minister and the lord chancellor, following the recommendation of an independent selection panel chaired by Helen Pitcher, chairwoman of the Judicial Appointments Commission.
It is “a huge and historic milestone for women in the law, as well as a great personal achievement”, says Hilary Heilbron KC, a barrister at Brick Court Chambers and daughter of Dame Rose Heilbron, who accrued several legal firsts for women.
Heilbron suggests that it will send out a signal to aspiring women lawyers “that there is no position in the law these days in England and Wales, which is not reachable with hard work and ability”.
Dana Denis-Smith, founder of the First 100 Years project, which charts the history of women in the legal profession, says: “It is over 100 years since women were permitted to practise as lawyers, yet we are still seeing pioneers breaking new ground. At a time when improving diversity of the judiciary is an urgent priority, I hope her appointment signals further efforts to increase the number of women in the most senior judicial roles.”
Baroness Butler-Sloss, who in 1988 became the first woman appointed to the Court of Appeal, tells The Times that Carr is an “excellent” choice for the “onerous and sensitive” job. She says: “She is a very good lawyer with experience of an unusually wide range of legal issues both at the Bar and on the bench.” Butler-Sloss commends Carr’s “excellent judgment and management of the court”.
Butler-Sloss suggests that Carr’s character, as a “people person” with a “very good open personality”, will be an “extremely useful attribute” when dealing with people outside the court setting, including civil servants, ministers and the lord chancellor.
Dame Anne Rafferty, a retired Court of Appeal judge, notes Carr’s personal skills. “One of the striking things about her is how surefootedly she connects with people, colleagues, international jurists, academics, civil servants, and young practitioners and school-age children,” Rafferty says. “These last are the future and she knows it.”
As a supporter of the Kalisher Trust, an education charity, Rafferty says that Carr “rolls up her sleeves and delivers the goods. She’ll run the mock trial, give a talk, turn up at a school, which needs all the help we can give, and the students can’t hear and see enough of her. She lights up a room.”
Lord Falconer of Thoroton, a former labour lord chancellor, describes Carr’s appointment as a “bold choice and the right choice with the courts in crisis”.
Falconer says that Carr is “regarded as clever, very personable and a popular judge”. Sir Geoffrey Vos, who as master of the rolls holds the second most senior judicial office, adds that her intellect and personality form a “formidable combination”.
Born in Epson, Surrey, in 1964, Carr is the daughter of the businessman Richard Carr, who is a former director and board member of Arsenal Football Club.
Along with Butler-Sloss, Carr is an Old Girl of Wycombe Abbey School, where both served as governors. The new lord chief studied modern languages and law at Trinity College, Cambridge, and speaks French and German.
She was called to the Bar by Inner Temple in 1987 and undertook pupillage at Brick Court Chambers and 2 Crown Office Row, now 4 New Square, where she became a tenant and later head of chambers. After completing a Pegasus scholarship in Sydney, Australia, Carr was called to the New South Wales Bar in 1989.
In practice, Carr developed a broad commercial expertise and took silk in 2003, aged just 38. Her judicial career began in 2009 in crime, when she became a crown court recorder, a part-time judge. She was appointed to the High Court in 2013 and promoted to the Court of Appeal three years ago.
Also in 2020, Carr was appointed as the senior judicial commissioner and vice-chairwoman of the Judicial Appointments Commission, serving until the beginning of this year.
A keen actress, sportswoman and musician, she sings with the Bar Choral Society and plays the piano. Her husband, Alexander Birch, is a corporate strategy consultant.
It is not yet know which title Carr will adopt. Dame Siobhan Keegan has been lady chief justice of Northern Ireland since 2021.
The Courts Act 2003 gives the lord chancellor, Alex Chalk KC, the ability to change the official title of lord chief justice. Ministry of Justice officials confirm that Chalk will discuss the style of address with the new appointee.