Lady Chief Justice’s annual press conference 2026
Today the Lady Chief Justice, The Right Honourable the Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill, held her annual press conference in the Royal Courts of Justice. The conference was held for the first time in the main library, with the Lady Chief Justice commenting that it was an apt location, given that it is the National Year of Reading and the room was ‘filled with wordsmiths!’
The Lady Chief Justice met with members of national and specialist media to reflect on her first three years in post, share progress on her priorities, and answer questions.
Topics included transparency – for instance, record numbers of broadcasted sentencings; judicial diversity, including the publication of disability data for the first time this year; court listings, citing the recent announcement on uncapped Crown Court sitting days; and international engagement, pointing to the visit of the First Lady of Germany as a personal highlight.
Speaking to the conference, the Lady Chief Justice said:
“It’s been another year of very hard work for the courts and tribunals. We’ve been dealing in pressurised environments with increasingly complex and high-profile cases.
“It has also been a time of change… we’ve had three reviews: Gauke, Leveson part one, Leveson part two. In this context, I have really welcomed the focus on justice as a whole and the broader conversations that have been going on around the importance of our judicial system in all jurisdictions and, of course, the rule of law.
“It’s going to be a year of change going forwards… It’s a year that does mark a moment of real transition with the retirements of the Master of the Rolls, the President of the Family Division, and the President of the King’s Bench Division. We are losing giants of the judiciary. We owe them each a great and enormous debt of gratitude.
“Change inevitably brings reflection, but I am really confident in the depth of talent within the judiciary. In October, a new leadership team will be in place, and we are ready for the next chapter.”
She also reiterated her three priorities:
- recognising and promoting judicial strength
- building judicial unity
- reducing backlogs, improving timeliness and performance.
A transcript of the press conference can be read in full below.