We received a complaint from a public sector organisation about an Officer’s conduct in six proceedings. The complaint made overarching allegations that the Officer’s conduct:

was bullying, belittling, angry, intimidating and impatient towards professional staff, which contributed to a psychologically unsafe work environment; and
was undermining, unreasonably critical and disrespectful.

The complaint detailed the impact of the Officer’s conduct on professional staff, which caused feelings of distress and an unwillingness to appear before the Officer.

We listened to audio recordings of the proceedings and gave the Officer an opportunity to respond to the complaints.

In the response, the Officer:

provided context to the proceedings, and expressed concern over delays;
detailed the sensitive and urgent nature of the applications, and the intention to exercise active case management to ensure that the matters were given sufficient time, care and attention by the court;
demonstrated insight into the unintended impact of the conduct, stating that it was never intended to bully or intimidate a person;
expressed some regret, accepting that they ‘should have done better’ and some critical comments were ‘irrelevant and unnecessary’.

This information was important to the outcome of the investigation.

We acknowledged the complexities and challenges involved in the applications, the subject of the proceedings, the circumstances surrounding them, and that these types of proceedings can be distressing and difficult for all involved and particularly the impact on staff, as detailed in the complaint.

However, having regard to all of the circumstances and context, we dismissed the complaint and made a number of findings, including that the Officer:

generally spoke in a frank and robust manner,¹ and their tone was not aggressive or hostile;
presented with a level of frustration at times across the proceedings, but it was not inappropriate in the
context of their active case management role to ensure time-wasting behaviour was avoided; and
made some unnecessary and critical comments that were momentary and not sustained.

The complainant was provided with a complaint outcome report that included the Officer’s perspective.

Following the conclusion of the investigation, we met with the complainant as part of our ongoing commitment to ensure we strengthen stakeholder understanding of our complaints process and concern for wellbeing. Although the complainant expressed
some disappointment with our findings, they appreciated the existence of an independent complaints process and our efforts to support them in better understanding and dealing with any future judicial conduct issues that arise.

¹‘[…] judicial officers may speak to legal practitioners in frank language and a robust way’, Judicial Conduct Guideline on Judicial Bullying (May 2023).

Acknowledging the impact of conduct