A quick postscript Monday’s post on the following documents drawn to my attention by a kind reader.
A Ministry of Justice Evidence Pack on Judicial Pay 2022/23 dating February this year appears to assume salaried judges cannot return to private practice:
Salaried judges are unique in public service in that they are unable to return to private
practice after becoming judges. Entering salaried judicial office is, in effect, a ‘one-way
street’. As the SSRB have previously noted, this convention has compounded the negative
impact that previous pension changes had on judicial remuneration and, by extension, on
judicial morale. Annex D provides a comparison with pre-appointment salaries.
And a report in 2018 to the Senior Salaries Review Board by two academics proceeded on the assumption that judges regarded full-time appointments as irreversible. These, especially the latter, would both suggest the convention has not been formally reconsidered (interestingly, the latter report suggested it should be).
The standard terms of service for full-time members of the judiciary includes the following term:
“The Lord Chancellor […] regards a judicial office as a lifetime appointment. Any offer of appointment is therefore made on the understanding that appointees will not return to practice.”
This language (on a very quick review of the vacancies listed on the JAC webside) seems to be included in the terms of service for all salaried judicial appointments at all levels (courts and tribunals). So it appears that this convention is very much alive – and is continuing to be incorporated into judges’ terms of service.