Moi Ali, Scotland's Judicial Complaints Reviewer, says her post is "window dressing" and lacks real power. She has a tiny budget of £2000 and cannot order investigations or impose sanctions. In contrast, England's equivalent role has a £500,000 budget and stronger powers. Ali believes the system of judges investigating other judges is unfair and lacks transparency. For meaningful reform, a truly independent process is needed rather than "judges judging judges." The Scottish government has resisted calls to change the self-regulatory system.

1. The contents of the publication from which these extracts have been taken are copyright works and without prior permission or save as permitted by statute may not be
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Section: News
Edition: 01
Date: 15 December 2013
Page: 3
Circulation: 28990
Source: Publishers Statement 2013
Ref: 80258495
My position is window-dressing, says
legal watchdog with budget of £2000
Judicial complaints
reviewer in an appeal
for tougher powers
SPECIAL REPORT
By Paul Hutcheon
S
CO TLAND’S judicial
watchdog says her post is
mere “window dressing”
and has blasted the system
set up to investigate judges
as unfair and not fit for purpose.
Moi Ali, the Judicial Complaints
Reviewer (JCR), also said she
was “really baffled” that the SNP
Government had not embraced
reform, and claimed the country
was lagging behind England.
MSPs yesterday welcomed the
intervention.
Judges are responsible for probing
complaints against their colleagues
under the model of self-regulation,
overseen by the Judicial Office for
Scotland (JOS).
The rules that govern the system
are also drawn up by the Lord
President, who is the head of the
judiciary. Ali can step in if an
individual believes a complaint
has not been handled properly,
but her powers do not include
ordering re-investigations or
imposing sanctions.
Her second annual report is
published tomorrow and it reveals
she found 20 breaches of the rules
last year.
However, in an interview with the
Sunday Herald, Ali, 50, backs an
overhaul of self-regulation.
“Fundamentally the problem is
the legislation ... it’s judges judging
judges’ conduct.
“I’m presented as the independent
element, but without the powers I
can’t be independent.”
She added: “Without any proper,
external, genuinely independent
oversight, you’re not going to have
public faith and confidence.”
Ali, who also sits on the boards of
the Scottish Police Authority and
the Scottish Ambulance Service,
believes the limitations of the post
are stark.
She said: “I’ve made some small
differences and they are small ...
But really it’s difficult to make an
impact within the constraints that
I’m in at the moment. It’s a bit like
being in a straitjacket.”
South of the Border, the
equivalent ombudsman has staff,
a budget of £500,000 and beefed-up
powers.
Ali, by contrast, is on her own and
has a budget of about £2000 a year.
“Citizens here have a lot less
protection than they do in England
and Wales,” she said. “I think that
Scotland is leading the way in all
sorts of areas – healthcare and
education – but here, this is prob-
ably one of the few areas where
Scotland is playing catch-up.”
A
SKED why the SNP
G o v e r n m e n t w a s
resistant to changing
the complaints system,
she said: “I have to say I
don’t know, I’m really baffled.”
In retrospect, Ali believes the
JCR post was not taken seriously
by those who created it. “I’m sorry
to say that I do think there was an
element of window dressing.
“I think that for any professional
group, whether it’s the judiciary or
any other powerful group of people,
it’s quite difficult to take them on.”
On the subject of her tiny budget,
Ali said she recognised there was no
appetite for a “great big quango”,
but noted: “It seems to have gone
too far the other way and there’s
been an attempt to create some-
thing on the cheap.
“I know people will be very
unhappy with me using the term
‘window dressing’, but I think there
is an element of that.”
However, Ali has helped reform
the way in which the JOS conducts
the investigation process.
The Lord President has agreed
to inform her of the final outcome
of any referrals she makes to him,
while a summary of the initial JOS
investigation report will also be
provided to complainers.
Both changes resulted from Ali’s
pressure. Even so, she is realistic
about the capacity for meaningful
change within the status quo.
“If I were asked to create some-
thing to deal fairly, effectively,
efficiently [and] transparently, with
complaints about the judiciary ...
I would not invent this.”
She is highly critical of the Lord
President’s rules that govern the
investigation system: “They are
legal rules written by lawyers, for
other lawyers to use. To me, the
perspective is completely wrong.”
She added: “If you have a set of

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Section: News
Edition: 01
Date: 15 December 2013
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Circulation: 28990
Source: Publishers Statement 2013
Ref: 80258495
rules that you can pick up and not
understand, then they can’t be fit
for purpose. They are not written in
an understandable way.”
S
HE has contributed to the
Lord President’s consulta-
tion on changing the rules,
but says the practice of
judges investigating their
colleagues is the bigger problem:
“All of the correspondence I’ve
had, people feel that’s not right,
that it’s not fair. Even if the Judi-
cial Office act completely fairly, and
apply the rules fairly, public percep-
tion is really important.”
She does not regret taking up
the post, but said her stint had
been “enormously frustrating and
difficult”.
Scottish Liberal Democrat justice
spokeswoman Alison McInnes MSP
said: “Moi Ali has been admirable in
her pursuit of transparency within
the judicial system. The Scottish
Government should treat her
concerns with seriousness, as the
current system of self-regulation is
not as transparent as it could be. It
is clear that there is more work to
be done to ensure public confidence
in the judicial system.”
Scottish Conservative justice
spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell
said: “If the Judicial Complaints
Reviewer believes her position
is simply window dressing and
that the current system is not
fit for purpose, then the Scottish
Government should look into these
concerns.”
A spokeswoman for the Judicial
Office for Scotland said: “It would
be inappropriate to comment in
advance of the publication of the
Judicial Complaints Reviewer’s
report on December 16.”
A S c o t t i s h G ove r n m e n t
spokesman said: “The JCR has
carried out only a small number of
reviews since the post was created
two years ago. It would be prema-
ture to review the powers of the role
at this point in time.”
● Editorial: page 34

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Section: News
Edition: 01
Date: 15 December 2013
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Circulation: 28990
Source: Publishers Statement 2013
Ref: 80258495
ONE RULING FROM THE CASELOAD OF MOI ALI, LEGAL COMPLAINTS WATCHDOG
Outcome: Breach of Rules
MRS L was walking her dog in
woods, when she was asked
by a stranger to put it on a
lead. She complied, but was
upset about the attitude of
the stranger (who turned out
to be a judicial office-holder,
or JOH), saying that he had a
“stern and hostile expression”;
talked in “overbearing and
dogmatic terms”; and had
a “dictatorial and high-
handed manner”, in which he
“continued to berate me, to
the point where I began to
feel very uncomfortable” and
“very intimidated”, such that
by the time she got home she
was “shaking with nerves”
having never been spoken
to “in such a humiliating and
derogatory way”.
Without any further
inquiry or investigation, the
Disciplinary Judge concluded
that the complaint was
“without substance”.
I could not see how he [the
Disciplinary Judge] concluded
that the judicial office-holder
was acting as a “private
individual” when JOHs have to
take special care when acting
as private individuals so as
not to lower respect for their
judicial office. Notwithstanding
the fact that Mrs L did not
know at the time that the man
in question was a JOH, the
fact is that he is a JOH.
I found that Rule 10 was
breached. The complaint
should not have been
dismissed as it justified a
referral to the Nominated
Judge under Rule 11.

4. The contents of the publication from which these extracts have been taken are copyright works and without prior permission or save as permitted by statute may not be
copied or otherwise reproduced (even for internal purposes) or resold.
Section: News
Edition: 01
Date: 15 December 2013
Page: 3
Circulation: 28990
Source: Publishers Statement 2013
Ref: 80258495
Moi Ali says her post
was not taken seriously
by those who created it,
and that she lacks the
powers necessary for
independent oversight
Photograph: Mark Mainz