I am told that the Judicial Appointments Commission is in difficulties over the selection of a new president for the High Court Family Division. Sir Mark Potter, currently the senior family judge, is expected to retire at Easter.

It is not that there have been no applications for this demanding job. It is more that those who are regarded as the best candidates have not put their names forward.

This is hardly a surprise; if they fail to get the top job, everyone in the business will know that they have been passed over. Better not to risk it.

The problem, of course, is that the commission cannot invite particular individuals to apply for positions such as these, still less tell them that they stand a particularly good chance of success. 

I now think we were much better off when the Lord Chancellor appointed the judges. I explain why in today's Law Society Gazette.