Overview

This Project aims to investigate expectations of judges and judging that underpin confidence in the judiciary. The Project will interrogate how significant and under-utilised resources, judicial swearing-in ceremonies, expose changing perceptions of the essential attributes of judges (both professional and personal) and of judging in Australian Supreme Courts.

The Project’s expected outcomes include:

• Revealing the different ways governments, lawyers and judges perceive these attributes;
• The gendered ramifications of these perceptions; and
• Variations over time and geography.

The anticipated benefit is to inform public debate regarding the ideal attributes of judges and judging that are essential to maintaining and building public confidence.

Fields of research

Legal Institutions (incl. Courts and Justice Systems); Legal Practice, Lawyering and the Legal Profession; Law and Society; Legal Processes; Gender and Sexualities

Project team

Associate Professor Heather Roberts

Project start

23 March 2018

Project status

Active