Read more of Frances Gibb's exclusive online columns

There may be slow progress on the diversity front in the judicial ranks but at least it's good news this week among the magistracy. Another 100 people from black ethnic minority backgrounds have spent the past six months shadowing magistrates in courts throughout England and Wales.

The idea is to give them an insight into what being a magistrate involves and encourage them to think of going on to the bench themselves. The scheme, run by Operation Black Vote and the Ministry of Justice, has already had 40 "graduates" from the scheme appointed as magistrates and there are another 200 waiting in the wings who want to apply within the year.

They observe court sessions to learn how magistrates do their work and arrive at sentencing decisions; they also carry out an ambassadorial role, talking about their work in the community, workplaces or elswhere. Joyce Clarke, who was a shadow on Bromley Magistrates' bench this year, said that the most beneficial part was "spending time at the youth court within Bromley Magistrates' Court." She added: "The decisions helped me to understand that the role of a JP is a serious and responsible one. I now know and appreciate what is expected of me."

The Magistrates' Association has strongly supported the scheme from the start and helped to set it up. Cindy Barnett, association chairman, said there was no doubt that it was increasing diversity. She also praised the way that the scheme ensured the message could be spread, providing opportunities for the "shadows" to talk to their communities about magistrates and their work in court. "We know this extension of our Magistrates in the Community project plays a vital role in raising awareness and improving confidence in the criminal justice system as a whole."

This week the success of the scheme was celebrated at special "graduation ceremony" in Whitehall addressed by Jack Straw, the Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, who praised it as a "resounding success" as he gave out 228 certificates to all those who have taken part since it was begun by Lord Irvine of Lairg, the former Lord Chancellor.

"There are lots and lots of misconceptions about the courts system. I hope at least those who have taken part have had those preconceptions, misconceptions, disabused. Becoming a magistrate is a key role in our society, the epitome of justice in the community, for the community and by the community." It was important, he said, that the wider community should not see magistrates as "them and us" but as "similar, or equals".

Simon Woolley, director of Operation Black Vote, endorsed that view: the magistracy worked best when all communities had confidence in it and those passing judgment reflected the people they served. "Given that magistrates on average sit for 15 to 20 years, we are sure that this scheme will have a profound and sustained impact that will benefit all of society."

Black magistrates make up 7. 3 per cent of the 30,000 in England and Wales - which helps to engender "greater confidence from black ethnic minority communities in the judiciary", Woolley said. One of the black JPs who came forward through the scheme, Gerald Ellis JP, of Croydon Magistrates' Court, agreed: “It will assist the Croydon bench ultimately to accurately reflect the population of the borough and reduce the average age profile of the local bench.”

The steady influx of black JPs is changing the face of the magistracy in less obvious ways. Most strikingly, it is lowering the age of appointees. The average age at which magistrates are appointed is 57 whereas the average age of black magistates is 35.

Young, dedicated and black: paying tribute to those who have taken part, Woolley enthusiastically described them as the "Barack Obama generation - a generation of men and women too long in the shadows" but who were now slowly emerging "to play their role in civil society generally, in the courts, in local government, as school governors. And like Barack Obama, they bring a dynamism that is not there if they are not there."

KEY FACTS:
* magistrates handle 90 per cent of cases in the courts
* they are unpaid volunteers but receive their expenses
* they can be aged 18 to 65
* are required to have "intelligence, common sense, integrity and capacity to act fairly"
* should sit at least 26 half days a year (up to 35) and be prepared to sit all day
* benches (the pool of magistrates supplying a group of courts) should have equal numbers of men and women

Times Recommends

• The best legal yarns this Christmas
• Legal school 'earned £1m by exploiting bar course'
• Axe may fall on 5,000 more City lawyers