Senior judges criticised for ignoring barristers’ wellbeing needs

updated on 30 August 2019

Senior judges in the criminal courts have been criticised for ignoring “very modest requests” to adopt email and sitting hours protocols to improve barristers’ wellbeing.

As Legal Futures reports, the outgoing chair of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), Chris Henley QC, has expressed disappointment that senior judges have failed to follow their colleagues in the Family Division in adopting basic wellbeing measures. With buy-in from the Family Division, Henley was hoping to build consensus toward creating a national template that sets “the bottom line expectations that should apply to all court centres”.

In his final message to CBA members, Henley said: “I have reluctantly concluded that we will have to wait for fresh blood at the top before we get the leadership on wellbeing issues we need and deserve.”