Australian Law Reform Commission Review of Judicial Impartiality – Survey of Practitioners

20/07/2021

The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) has been asked to consider whether, and if so what, reforms to the laws relating to impartiality and bias as they apply to the federal judiciary are necessary and desirable. Further details regarding the ALRC’s reference are available here.

As part of this Inquiry, the ALRC is carrying out a survey of legal practitioners to gather information about experiences with and perceptions of the law and procedures relating to judicial bias. The views of individual practitioners on these issues will form a critical part of the evidence base for the ALRC’s Inquiry.

The survey is open to any person who has been admitted to practise law in an Australian state or territory, and who has practised in Australia within the past five years. It is of particular relevance to those practitioners who litigate in the Commonwealth courts, however the participation of all practitioners is welcomed by the ALRC.

Participation in the survey is entirely voluntary, and responses will be fully anonymous. The ALRC will not receive any identifying information, nor will it be able to identify any participant from the statistical analysis of responses.

The survey should take between 8 to 12 minutes to complete and can be completed in more than one session (on the same device). Survey responses are open until 11.59pm AEST on 6 August 2021.

The ALRC survey is available here.