Thought for this Issue: ‘…[T]oday’s lawyers are tomorrow’s judges [so require]… independence of thought, strength of character and…moral courage’

In the full paper published further below by Lady Carr, Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, in her 2025 Sir Henry Brooke Lecture ‘Valuing Lawyers’, at paragraph 20, her Honour wrote:

It remains the case that the vast majority of the judiciary are drawn from the legal profession. There are, of course, examples where judges have been appointed from legal academia. Lady Hale and Lord Burrows are the two most obvious examples. The route from academia to the judiciary remains, however, under-developed. Given then that today’s lawyers are tomorrow’s judges, it is essential that they continue to develop their careers committed to and exhibiting all the historical hallmarks of independence of thought, strength of character and, where called for, moral courage to advise and act for individuals and businesses who may be unpopular, just as they would for any other client. And more than that, that they continue to exercise their independent judgment in advising and acting for their clients. If tomorrow’s judges are to continue to demonstrate the robust independence of mind in the service of justice that has historically been the case and remains so today, it is essential that today’s lawyers continue to develop that independence of mind in their practices. And, it should be said, that academic lawyers too demonstrate through their research and the robust critiques of our judgments the same essential characteristics.