Claims of sexism among judges overblown, says Chief Justice

THE scale of sexism in courts is exaggerated, the Lord Chief Justice has suggested, adding that the small number of cases gives a “false impression”.

Last month, Lord Burnett warned that sexist judges would be disciplined as he admitted “great concern” at the lack of diversity in the upper echelons of the judiciary. This came in response to widely reported allegations of “misogynistic” behaviour towards female advocates.

It followed criticism by Chris Henley, chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, who said some judges were “much more uninhibited” in their criticism of young women and that he was currently handling complaints of “brutish” conduct towards pregnant female colleagues.

However, while giving evidence to the House of Lords constitution committee yesterday, Lord Burnett said: “I’m not aware of any evidence that women are deterred from applying to judicial office… I fear that there was a phenomenon in play that is all too familiar to politicians …

“The same examples [of sexism] get repeated time and time again and the impressions given are false … of the hundreds of judges that sit in high court and family court, if there is a problem that exists in this nature it exists in a very small number.”

In response to the Lord Chief Justice’s comments, one experienced criminal barrister, who has been on sick leave following alleged bullying by a judge, and who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that his comments were “unbelievable”. She said that there is a pervasive culture of sexism within the judiciary and called for offenders to be held to account.

The barrister claims that she was involved in a case where a judge repeatedly rolled his eyes at the jury every time she spoke, undermined her by insisting she was incorrectly pronouncing medical terminology, spoke in patronising terms and ordered a senior member of the CPS to come to court and monitor her; they did and found nothing wrong with her case.