A judge has been issued with formal advice for misconduct after she took more than two years between the making and drawing of an order in family court proceedings.
A complaint was made that Her Honour Judge Fiona Shanks delayed drawing a child arrangement order following a court hearing in May 2023. Despite repeated chasers sent by the complainant to the court about the matter, the order remained outstanding at the time of the complaint to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.
The judge, who retired as a circuit judge with effect from 1 October, ‘citied several personal factors in mitigation’, a JCIO spokesperson said. She accepted the delay in issuing the order was unacceptable and ‘offered her sincerest apologies to the parties’.
The order has since been drafted.
An investigation found there had been an ‘unreasonable delay exceeding two years between the making and drawing of the order’.
The judge was admitted as a solicitor in 1980 and appointed a deputy district judge in 1991, before eventually becoming the designated family judge for Suffolk and Essex from 2020 to 2025. She was found to have ‘failed to display diligence and care in the discharge of judicial duties’. Her conduct record was previously unblemished.
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The lady chief justice, with the lord chancellor’s agreement, issued the judge 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.
