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A legal challenge has been launched against a legal watchdog for refusing to consider complaints from ten women who say an employment judge treated them in a bullying, misogynistic and biased way when they appeared before him.
The complaints – all involved in separate employment hearings in Leeds – are against Judge Philip Lancaster. They include two doctors, a nurse, the mother of a disabled daughter and Alison McDermott, a whistle-blower and management consultant, whose complaints of bullying and a toxic culture at Sellafield were thrown out by Judge Lancaster. (A case which has been covered by Byline Times).
The Good Law Project is backing the case against legal regulator the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO), for refusing to look at the complainants’ cases.
The JCIO is the main body that investigates judges, and is responsible to the Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Carr, the first woman to hold the post since it was set up in the thirteenth century, and advises the Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood.
The barrister representing Dr Hinaa Toheed, one of the doctors, documented that Judge Lancaster shouted at her at least 16 times during a February 2022 hearing.
She said: “I came to court because I was being bullied by a man only to be bullied by another man.”
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Her complaint against Judge Lancaster, brought by her solicitor and barrister, has been beset by delays for three years.
Later in 2022, Jackie Moore, representing her daughter in a disability discrimination case, described how Lancaster systematically “blocked or challenged” her questions, speaking to her in an aggressive, dismissive, and condescending manner.
Multiple successful employment appeal tribunal challenges against Lancaster’s rulings further highlight concerns about his competence. In one case, a High Court Judge characterised Lancaster’s comments about a woman as “troubling,” validating the experiences of those who have appeared before him.
The group says that these cases also expose a critical failure in the employment tribunal system: no official court record exists in many of these cases – only Judge Lancaster’s personal notes, which he refuses to release.
The JCIO is also currently involved in a dispute with the Information Commissioner, John Edwards, who is separately backing two complainants who were refused information on the number of complaints against judges.
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The watchdog claims it is an independent body, exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, but this has been challenged by a ruling from the Information Commission that will be decided at a later tribunal.
The Good Law Project has assembled an all-women legal team to fight the case for the women in the JCIO case. They include Emily Soothill of Deighton Pierce Glynn, Dr. Charlotte Proudman, and a prominent King’s Counsel.
As a first step, the legal team will advise on developing a strong case against the JCIO over its failure to investigate Judge Lancaster’s alleged misconduct and to bring attention to the systemic failings within the employment tribunal system.
They have together agreed to give advice for a capped fee. The Good Law Project has now launched a crowdfunder to raise £10,000 to do this.
Complainant Alison McDermott said: “The JCIO have betrayed their fundamental duty to ensure judicial accountability. They’ve chosen to protect a system that lets judges abuse their power against women without consequence.
“One woman after another has reached out to me with the same appalling accounts of Judge Lancaster’s conduct—and the crushing dismissal of their complaints. We will not remain silent and stand by as more women are harmed.”
Good Law Project’s Executive Director, Jo Maugham, added: “Judges are made from the same crooked timber as the rest of us. What’s different about them is that their enormous power amplifies the consequences of their failures.
“So they must be subject to proper oversight and accountability – and we are concerned that that has not happened here
A spokesperson for the JCIO said: “We do not comment on individual cases.”