Enhancing public confidence in the State’s judicial officers

Anyone may make a complaint about the ability or behaviour of a judicial officer. A formal complaint must be in writing (using the Commission’s complaint form). Identify yourself and the judicial officer involved, provide a supporting statutory declaration that verifies the particulars of the complaint, then lodge the complaint with the Commission’s Chief Executive.

Try our complaint eligibility assessment or learn more about complaints.

Depending on the seriousness and complexity of the complaint, the Commission aims to finalise the investigation of 90% of complaints within 6 months and 100% within 12 months of receipt.

See our complaints process information.

Please refer to the Where to seek legal advice page.

The Judicial Commission is an independent statutory authority. The Commission’s decisions are not subject to review by the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Department of Justice, or the Parliament of NSW. The Attorney General may request information about a complaint and the Commission must provide this information unless it is not in the public interest to do so.

A Conduct Division, which is appointed by the Commission to deal with a specific complaint, is subject to the supervisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. The court can only intervene if some form of legal error arising under administrative law principles can be identified. Each complaint is dealt with on its merits. It is Commission policy that a judicial member will not participate in any discussion or decision involving a complaint against him or her. No member will participate in any discussion or decision where that member has a possible conflict of interest.

Legal Literate is a plain English glossary website with definitions of common legal and judicial terms. It is designed for use by interpreters but may also be useful to court and tribunal users, staff, or to assist judicial officers in explaining legal terms. Legal Literate seeks to overcome language barriers in the justice system for Australia’s culturally and linguistically diverse communities by explaining terms used in courts.

We provide free access to bench books and handbooks, e-resource series, research and education monographs, selected articles and Sentencing trends & issues. See also Judicial Information Research System (JIRS).

The Lawcodes database is free and anyone can search it to find Law Part Codes and which provides unique codes to describe offences in NSW. Find associated text of legislation, a short and long description, penalties and more. 

Lawcodes can be accessed at https://lawcodes.judcom.nsw.gov.au/.

Through currency notices for bench books and handbooks and through Judicial Information Research System (JIRS).

Anyone may make a complaint about the ability or behaviour of a judicial officer. A formal complaint must:

• be in writing (using the Commission’s complaint form)
• identify yourself and the judicial officer involved
• be supported by a statutory declaration that verifies the particulars of the complaint
• be lodged with the Commission’s Chief Executive.

Click here to access guidelines for complaints and here for a flowchart of how a complaint is processed. Click here to download instructions for lodging a complaint against a judicial officer.

Only complaints about the ability or behaviour of a judicial officer. Common causes of complaint to the Commission about the ability or behaviour of judicial officers that may have affected the performance of judicial or official duties include:

• failure to give fair hearing
• bias
• incompetence
• inappropriate comments or questions
• collusion
• discourtesy
• unreasonable delay.

Allegations of corruption must be raised with the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Click here to see a range of past complaint case studies.

A “judicial officer” under the Judicial Officers Act 1986 means:

• a judge or associate judge of the Supreme Court of NSW
• a member (including a judicial member) of the Industrial Relations Commission of NSW
• a judge of the Land and Environment Court of NSW
• a judge of the District Court of NSW
• the President of the Children’s Court of NSW
• a magistrate, or
• the President of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The definition of “judicial officer” includes acting appointments to a judicial office but does not include arbitrators, registrars, assessors, members of tribunals or legal practitioners. The Commission also has no power to examine complaints against members of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal who are not otherwise a judicial officer under the Judicial Officers Act 1986, federal judicial officers or a person who is no longer a judicial officer.

The Commission cannot:

• provide legal advice or legal representation
• review a case for judicial error, mistake or other legal grounds
• discipline or sanction a judicial officer
• investigate allegations of criminal or corrupt conduct
• investigate a complaint about a retired judicial officer, federal judicial officer, arbitrator, assessor, registrar, member of a tribunal or legal practitioner.

The Commission is an independent statutory authority. The Commission’s decisions are not subject to review by the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Department of Justice, or the Parliament of NSW. The Attorney General may request information about a complaint and the Commission must provide this information unless it is not in the public interest to do so.

A Conduct Division, which is appointed by the Commission to deal with a specific complaint, is subject to the supervisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. The court can only intervene if some form of legal error arising under administrative law principles can be identified. Each complaint is dealt with on its merits. It is Commission policy that a judicial member will not participate in any discussion or decision involving a complaint against him or her. No member will participate in any discussion or decision where that member has a possible conflict of interest.

No. The Commission has no power to discipline judicial officers. Judicial independence requires that the judiciary are free from interference in the performance of their duties.

The Commission regularly provides information over the phone and/or in writing to potential complainants. The Commission is usually able to help by providing information or an explanation, referring you to another agency, advising you about the complaints process, or if the matter should be dealt with on appeal, advising you to seek independent legal advice. The complaint will only be considered when it is made in writing and includes the relevant information. See “How can I find out if I am eligible to lodge a complaint?” above.

There is no cost involved in making a formal complaint about a relevant judicial officer to the Commission.

No. The Judicial Officers Act 1986 requires you to provide your name and contact details to the Commission when you lodge a formal complaint.

The Commission will dismiss a complaint if it is of the opinion, after taking into account such matters as it thinks fit, that the matter complained about occurred at “too remote a time” to justify further consideration.

The complaint is dismissed because the Commission has no power to examine a complaint against a retired judicial officer.

Normally, you will not need legal representation. However, if the Conduct Division decides to hold a hearing and requires you to be present, there may be special circumstances that will allow you to be represented by an Australian legal practitioner.

Telephone interpreters can be arranged through Multicultural NSW language services.

The Commission will:

• acknowledge your complaint in writing within one week of receipt
• advise the judicial officer of your complaint and provide the judicial officer with a copy of the documentation
• conduct a thorough investigation of the complaint (which may involve an examination of transcripts, sound recordings, judgments and other material relevant to the complaint)
• if necessary, seek a response to the complaint from the judicial officer.

Following its preliminary examination, the Commission must take one of the following actions:

• summarily dismiss the complaint
• refer the complaint to the relevant head of jurisdiction, or
• refer the complaint to the Conduct Division.

Your complaint can be summarily dismissed if the Commission is of the opinion that your complaint is frivolous, vexatious or not in good faith.

The Commission has power to declare a person a vexatious complainant. If this happens, the Commission can disregard any further complaints from the person until the declaration is removed.

The Commission aims to acknowledge receipt of all complaints within five working days. The Commission aims to finalise the investigation of 90% of complaints within six months of receipt and 100% within 12 months of receipt.

The Commission’s decision on a complaint is final and there is no further avenue of appeal or review of the decision. The Commission’s investigations and decisions cannot be reviewed by the Attorney General nor the Department of Justice.