Bipolar magistrate pleads case to MPs

Sydney magistrate Brian Vincent Maloney has argued his case to be spared the sack, telling NSW MPs he stood before them to be judged "as a man and one who holds judicial office".

Mr Maloney began his address to upper house MPs this afternoon by outlining his battle with a bipolar disorder, which he blames for four complaints that could lead to his removal from the bench.

"An illness I did not choose to have, but one I acquired," he said. "I unconditionally accept the diagnosis and take up the challenge to conquer it."

A Judicial Commission of NSW report tabled in parliament found Mr Maloney had behaved "well below the standard of a judicial officer" when it examined four complaints laid against the magistrate between 2002 and 2010.

Mr Maloney was found to have ridiculed and bullied an unrepresented litigant and urged a pregnant psychiatric registrar to stand up and show how pregnant she was.

While the commission accepted Mr Maloney's inappropriate behaviour had been caused by a bipolar 2 disorder, which was diagnosed in 2010 and has since been treated, it still called on parliament to remove him.

In its report, the commission's conduct division found the magistrate remained "incapacitated" because of his disorder, and that there was a risk he could "suffer hypomanic attacks or mood changes".

In the Supreme Court last month, Mr Maloney failed to stop the commission's report being forwarded to parliament, which is the only forum that can sack a judicial officer.

Mr Maloney said mental illness was relatively common among the demographic from which legal officials were drawn.

"Interestingly, researchers have found that 40 per cent of law students, 20 per cent of barristers and 33 per cent of solicitors have a mental illness," he told the hearing. "It is from this demographic that judicial officers are drawn.

"In the past 12 months three barristers have sadly taken their own lives. In recent years, two judges."

Mr Maloney spoke briefly about his childhood, in Bondi, paying tribute to his father but saying he did not enjoy a privileged upbringing.

Outlining his career in the law, and his eventual rise to the bench, Mr Maloney admitted that "sometimes I was more than frank".

"I don't apologise for that personality trait," he said.

"I've always wanted to make a difference as a magistrate.

"I did not want to be a one-dimensional person.

"I wanted to be someone who could make a real difference in people's lives."

Mr Maloney spoke of how marriage problems in the late 1990s had taken a toll on him.

"In that period I was subject to several complaints of being loquacious and using inappropriate humour," he said.

"At the time that I dealt with those complaints (in 1999) I inwardly believed that a factor affecting my work was my marital position.

"I didn't understand that even then I had a depressive illness."

(Published by Herald Sun - June 21, 2011)