WOMEN judges now make up more than a quarter of the justiciary in Scotland with the appointment of two QCs to the bench.

For the first time the two latest candidates recommended by the Independent Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland were both women.

Sheriff Rita Rae QC and Sarah Wolffe QC were appointed Senators of the College of Justice by Her Majesty the Queen. This brings the number of female judges in the Court of Session and High Court to nine. There are 34 judges in total.

Sheriff Rae was a solicitor for a number of years before joining the Faculty of Advocates in 1982. She took silk in 1992 and has been a sheriff in Glasgow since 1997, and a temporary judge since 2004.

She was a member and laterally vice-chairwoman of the Parole Board for Scotland between 2001 and 2007, and has chaired the Glasgow branch of the Scottish Association for the Study of Offending since 2003.

Mrs Wolffe qualified as a solicitor in 1992 and, after working in the legal department of the Bank of Scotland, was called to the Bar in 1994. She practised as a junior counsel mainly in commercial and public law and was standing junior counsel to the Department of Trade and Industry and its successor departments.

In 2008, Mrs Wolffe was appointed QC. She has been an ad hoc advocate-depute for six years, was a member of the Faculty's Disciplinary Tribunal from 2005 to 2008 and earlier this year, she was appointed to the Police Appeals Tribunal