A High Court judge will rule on Wednesday as to whether she should recuse herself from hearing solicitor Ammi Burke’s challenge to the Workplace Relations Commission’s (WRC’s) rejection of her claim she was unfairly dismissed by law firm Arthur Cox.
At the opening of her case against the WRC on Tuesday, Ms Burke applied for Ms Justice Marguerite Bolger to recuse herself on grounds including that she previously expressed views concerning the core issue in her proceedings and that she has a “particularly close relationship” with Arthur Cox’s senior counsel in the “tight-knit community” of employment law specialists.
Ms Burke alleged Ms Justice Bolger and Arthur Cox’s barrister Peter Ward were founding members of the Employment Law Bar Association and have appeared on panels together.
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Ms Burke also produced a letter she received from Arthur Cox’s solicitors in 2020 that included the judge’s name, then a senior counsel, as one of three potential barristers who could mediate her claim.
The judge asked: “Ms Burke are you seriously suggesting that because I am proposed as a mediator that I should recuse myself?”
She directed Arthur Cox’s solicitor, Donal Spring, to file an affidavit on Tuesday evening setting out his contention the then-barrister was never actually contacted in relation to the proposed mediation.
The judge said she had a busy practice before being elected to the bench and could not recall if Mr Spring had contacted her about potentially mediating...
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