Studying judges: the role of the Chief Justice, and other institutional actors

The empirical study of judicial officers and the functioning of courts intersects with a number of judicial institutional values. Researchers will often, but not always, have legal qualifications, and most researchers of judicial officers will share a commitment to maintaining the institutional values of the Court but also have their own commitments to academic integrity and independence to maintain. In this article, we argue that the role of the Chief Justice, with its unique institutional leadership in relation to protecting and promoting judicial values, plays a number of different roles in relation to the study of judges more generally. We identify the roles of gatekeeper, provider of research, responder to research, and commissioner of research. We also identify other institutional actors that share responsibility for these roles in some instances, including the Attorney-General’s Department, the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration (AIJA) and the Australian Judicial Officers Association (AJAO). Ultimately, we argue that the status, responsibility to the court, relational position, and access to information makes it inevitable and desirable that the Chief Justice perform this role, but that researchers should engage sensitively with the Chief Justice so as to protect values that might arise in tension.