The Queen has approved the appointment of three new Justices of the Supreme Court, with Lord Justice Hughes, Lord Justice Toulson and Lord Hodge all set to join the bench.

The trio will replace Lord Dyson, who became Master of the Rolls in October 2012, and Lord Walker and Lord Hope, who are due to retire later this year.

Lord Justice Hughes, who will succeed Lord Dyson on 9 April, has been a member of the Court of Appeal since 2006 and is vice-president of its criminal division.

Meanwhile, Lord Justice Toulson, who will succeed Lord Walker on the same date, has been a Court of Appeal judge since 2007 and previously served as chairman of the Law Commission of England and Wales between 2002 and 2006.

Intellectual property (IP) specialist Lord Hodge will succeed Lord Hope, who is one of two Scottish judges in the court, in October this year. He is currently the Scottish judge in Exchequer Causes and one of the Scottish IP judges.

The three appointments were made by the Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor, following the recommendation of an independent selection commission.

Supreme Court president Lord Neuberger said: "Recommending three appointments for a court of 12 naturally represents an important set of decisions. All members of the selection commission were keenly aware of the significance of the task we faced. We encouraged applications from a broad qualified pool, and took careful soundings from all those who were statutorily required to be consulted.

"The three names which have emerged represent a talented trio of judges, all of whom have already made notable contributions to the development of the law in their judicial careers."

However, the appointment of three white male judges to the Supreme Court will disappoint those who have called for greater diversity among the judiciary. The proportion of black and minority ethnic judges ranges from 11% in the upper tribunal courts, to zero in the Court of Appeal, while Lady Hale is the only woman on the 12-strong Supreme Court bench.

She suggested last week at the Kuttan Menon Memorial Lecture on Equality in the Judiciary that positive discrimination could be required to correct the balance.

She said: "It is an uncomfortable truth that we have so few women and BME judges, especially in the higher judiciary.

"Our equality laws depend upon the proposition that race and sex are not relevant qualifications, or disqualifications, for any job save in very exceptional circumstances. It may be a genuine occupational qualification to choose a black Othello or a female Desdemona, but could it be thought a genuine occupational qualification to bring a minority perspective to the business of judging in the higher courts?"

"So do we need to revive the argument for some special provision, akin to that in Northern Ireland, to enable the appointing commissions to take racial or gender balance into account when making their appointments? Would that really be such a bad thing? I think not."