JCIO probe found delays of up to 11 months in handing down judgments amounted to misconduct under judicial discipline rules
A High Court judge has been issued with a formal warning for misconduct after significant delays in handing down judgments in two cases, following complaints made by lawyers involved in the proceedings.
The sanction was imposed on Mr Justice Derek Sweeting after an investigation by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office. The decision was taken jointly by the Lord Chancellor and Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill, who accepted the recommendation of a nominated judge that a formal warning was appropriate.
The first complaint related to a judgment following a hearing in July 2024 that was not handed down until 11 months later. The investigating judge found that the delay was excessive and amounted to a failure to meet expected judicial standards of diligence in producing judgments within a reasonable timeframe.
The second complaint concerned a judgment following a hearing in October 2024, which was handed down eight months later. In that case, the delay was said to have caused substantial practical, procedural and financial detriment to the parties. A draft version of the judgment circulated before hand-down also contained a number of errors, prompting concern from legal representatives and raising questions about whether artificial intelligence may have been used in its preparation.
The investigation found no evidence that AI had been used, and the errors themselves were not treated as separate misconduct.
Mr Justice Sweeting accepted that the delays had occurred and attributed them to workload pressures and personal circumstances during summer 2024. He also acknowledged errors in the draft judgment circulated in one case and said these arose from mistakes made under pressure.
The nominated judge concluded that the delays demonstrated a lack of appropriate diligence and therefore amounted to misconduct. In determining sanction, account was taken of the fact that Mr Justice Sweeting had previously received formal advice in September 2023 after a 14-month delay in handing down another judgment.
Taking these matters together, the Lord Chancellor and the Lady Chief Justice issued a formal warning, a more serious sanction than formal advice within the judicial disciplinary framework.