The judge-associate relationship is one in which there is a particularly strong power imbalance, held as it is between a senior legal practitioner and someone just entering the profession. ……It is a vacuum that has allowed sexist, racist and other troubling conduct to go largely unaddressed. Writes the Australian Times
As a female legal academic, former practising lawyer, and judge’s associate, I hope the explosive allegations raised by the inquiry into former High Court judge Dyson Heydon will create the Australian legal profession’s #metoo moment. It is my professional culture. I have lived it and observed it. We need a moment to expose, examine and fundamentally change a culture that tolerates sexual predation.
In addition, as a legal academic who has studied the systems for complaints against judges for almost a decade, I also hope that these allegations provide a long-awaited catalyst for fixing the larger accountability vacuum that still yawns over the Australian federal judiciary.
It is a vacuum that has allowed sexist, racist and other troubling conduct to go largely unaddressed.
Read on below and we suggest you do link through and read the full article it spells out som truths and the fact that action has to be taken now
