Dr. Jennifer Carroll MacNeill:

Not necessarily because what one wants is judges who are competent in the law in order to be able to apply the law, so I am not sure. What are important, however - as Senator Bacik presented in her 2003 report - are the pathways into law, and how one expands that at university and professional level. Crucial also is keeping people in the profession, particularly women who for different reasons find it difficult to make it from qualified lawyer to senior lawyer.