Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias rebukes judges after revelations of widespread bullying

Saturday, 24 March 2018

Dame Sian Elias wants any criminal lawyer who believes they've been bullied by a judge to make a complaint.

The head of the country's legal system is warning judges bullying is not acceptable.

Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias made the comment following a survey carried out by the Criminal Bar Association on bullying. It revealed 90 per cent of criminal lawyers who responded have experienced or witnessed bullying in the last four years.

In close to 65 per cent of cases the person doing the harassing or bullying was a judge.

The survey was done amid revelations of alleged sexual assaults and inappropriate sexual conduct involving interns and senior lawyers at high profile law firm Russell McVeagh.

Dame Elias said she expects all judges to deal with litigants, witnesses and counsel with respect and courtesy.

'Bullying of counsel is not acceptable. That is made clear in the Guidelines for Judicial conduct.'

She warned if the report of high level of bullying from judges was true she and the heads of the bench wanted to know about it and wanted it to stop.

The types of abuse identified in the survey included shouting, insults and threats, and nearly one in three had experienced unwelcome sexual attention.

Dame Elias said it was difficult to tell from the survey whether the concerns raised about the judges were confined to in-court conduct or if it extended to outside the courtroom.

'If proper standards are not observed I encourage those who are affected or who have observed such behaviour to raise their concerns with the head of the bench or with me or to make a complaint to the Independent Judicial Conduct Commissioner.'

The survey found of those who did complain, just six per cent felt it fixed the problem.