Judge Susanne Cole

The Council for the Law Society of NSW can seek disciplinary findings against a solicitor who was previously banned over social media posts encouraging people to flout COVID-19 mandates and representing that a judge condoned rape and murder.

Requests by litigants for judges to disqualify themselves from presiding over cases were largely denied last year, in a raft of decisions containing lessons for litigants weighing up their own recusal bids in 2023.

A judge has refused to recuse herself from hearing disciplinary proceedings brought against a barrister over complaints that she used “judicially inappropriate words” at an interlocutory hearing.