... appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Lord Chancellor. Justices of the Peace are appointed directly by the Lord Chancellor. However until recently the only judicial office opens to a solicitor was that of Recorder, but since 1971 a Recorder of five years standing may be appointed a Circuit Judge, and there are now some Circuit judges who were solicitors. Some solicitors, of course, reached high judicial office after they had switched to the Bar. A notable example was Lord Widgery CJ, who became Lord Chief Justice after a long career as a solicitor and lecture. The actual process of selecting a judge is 'shrouded in secrecy'. Undoubtedly, as the Bar grows in size and its composition alters socially, the Lord Chancellor is highly unlikely to know every potential candidate. Information about good senior barristers is stored in the so-called 'yellow sheets' and accumulated for future reference. Section 17(4) ...

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