Judges receive bullying warning after lawyers complain
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.
Dame Elias said she expects all judges to deal with litigants, witnesses and counsel with respect and courtesy and ‘‘bullying of counsel is not acceptable.’’
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 warned she and the heads of the bench wanted to know about any potential bullying adding it was difficult to tell from the survey whether the concerns raised about the judges were in court 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.