Judges and Short Tempers
So whilst a US judge gains renown (see below ) for bringing dry humour and excellent wit to the proceedings; closer to home, District Judge Margaret Short has been removed by the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice for her “inappropriate, petulant and rude” behaviour towards solicitors. The removal follows a “history of complaints” against the grouchy judge. It is the first firing of a judge for many years. According to The Times the last time it happened was …
So whilst a US judge gains renown (see below ) for bringing dry humour and excellent wit to the proceedings; closer to home, District Judge Margaret Short has been removed by the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice for her “inappropriate, petulant and rude” behaviour towards solicitors. The removal follows a “history of complaints” against the grouchy judge.
It is the first firing of a judge for many years. According to The Times the last time it happened was in 1983 when Judge Bruce Campbell was sacked for something far more adverturous – smuggling whisky into England from Guernsey.
Rock and roll.
April 29, 2009
It’s hardly uncommon for judges to be rude to solicitors.
April 29, 2009
smuggling whisky – what a dude
April 30, 2009
I remember incredible rudeness and inappropriateness from a district registrar (as they then were) in Cheshire called Tynas. He conducted proceedings in chambers lolling back in his chair, his shirt buttons straining and flesh showing through the gaps, his cheap tie at half mast, being rude to any solicitors and clerks but vomit-inducingly sycophantic to any counsel who appeared, in whose favour he apparently always found if they were against non-counsel. He would refer to Lords Justice of Appeal as “my brother judges”… I was told afterwards that on witnessing just such a display of bad judging and rudeness towards an experienced solicitor’s clerk, one barrister had walked out and, pausing at the door, had remarked “did you know, sir, that your name in an anagram of ‘nasty’?”. A real shocker.
April 30, 2009
There used to be a judge at the Mayor’s and City of London Court who was rude to anyone who appeared before him, solicitors and counsel alike. I remember seeing one hapless junior barrister who was so disconcerted by this that she found herself arguing against his decision to grant her application…