Lord Chief Justice Ian Burnett has spoken up to strongly defend judiciary efforts to ensure the welfare of judges.
Lord Burnett of Maldon stated in acknowledgement of judiciary actions that it has been “more active in this field than pretty much any other organisation”.
The GMB union recently announced that it had formally constituted a judges’ branch, during a time of strong criticism regarding the way individual judges have been treated during the course of their everyday work.
In writing to the Lord Chief Justice, senior organiser Stuart Fegen described an alleged “toxic working environment” and and “at best tokenistic” improvement initiatives.
Lord Burnett stated:
“We are doing a huge amount to protect the welfare of our judges”…”In particular the work we have been doing to identify and deal with what may generally be called inappropriate behaviour has been forward-looking and in my view quite far-sighted.
“The basic premise is that we have completely transformed the welfare offering for judges.”
He then went on to explain that training has been provided for leaders in the family, civil and criminal courts, using the opportunity to make it clear that designated leaders are responsible for any issues arising within their own courts. Whistleblowing and grievance procedures, to which the GMB noted that a significant number of judges have reported bullying and harassment.
In a recent survey of judges, which is due to be published in full later in 2023, Lord Burnett found that there was a small proportion of judges who had been subjected to inappropriate behaviour at the hands of fellow judges, or lawyers and litigants.
The Lord Chief Justice added:
“We really have been more active in this field than pretty much any other organisation. I am also conscious of the fact that whatever we do it will never satisfy some people.
‘As a general observation it is important to listen to those who shout loudest and take account of the quality of what they [say] but just because someone shouts loudly you don’t completely change your way of doing things.”
Further reading
Bullying and harassment at work – Oakwood Solicitors
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Jessica Rowson started as a Paralegal at Oakwood Solicitors in July 2010, qualifying as a Solicitor in September 2013. Following her qualifying as a Solicitor, Jessica established a niche department …
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