Deputy High Court judge’s ‘excessive intervention’ leads to misconduct sanction

A deputy High Court judge has been issued with formal advice for misconduct after he interrupted so much it amounted to ‘excessive intervention’ and raised his voice at a barrister while she was making submissions.

His Honour Judge Richard Roberts, who was appointed a senior circuit judge in 2024 and a deputy High Court judge in 2022, was found to have, at times, used an ‘aggressive’ tone or a tone which showed his ‘irritation and frustration’. This was ‘noticeably different’ to how he addressed the opposing barristers.

A barrister complained that while she was making submissions during a hearing before Roberts, he ‘interrupted her excessively in an aggressive manner and with an elevated tone’.

The judge said he gave the barrister ‘all the time she needed to make her submissions’ but accepted he interrupted her at ‘certain points’ though he ‘explained why he did so’.

A spokesperson for the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said Roberts ‘said he made points forcefully but not aggressively, though he accepted that his tone was elevated at times’. In his submissions, Roberts said he ‘regretted showing frustration’ and referred to his long service as a judge as well as offering ‘mitigation related to his personal circumstances at the time’.

An investigation into the complaint found Roberts interrupted the complainant’s submissions ‘so frequently as to amount to excessive intervention’.

Roberts was found to have raised his voice at times and, on some occasions, ‘his words and tone could reasonably be described as aggressive’.

On other occasions, his tone conveyed ‘irritation and frustration’. The investigation found this was ‘noticeably different to the way Roberts addressed the opposing barristers’ adding that Roberts’ conduct amounted to misconduct.

The lady chief justice with the lord chancellor’s agreement issued Roberts with formal advice for misconduct. Sanctions for misconduct by judicial office holders are, in order of severity, formal advice, formal warning, reprimand and removal from office.