A working group has come up with nearly 20 reforms aimed at dealing with concerns about workplace harassment throughout the federal judicial system.

James Duff, director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, told the Judicial Conference in an interim report on Tuesday, “Any harassment in the judiciary is too much.” The 26-member conference, composed of federal judges from across the country, convened at the U.S. Supreme Court for its regular spring meeting

Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., who presides over the conference, said, “I have great confidence in the men and women who comprise the federal judiciary. I am sure that the overwhelming number have no tolerance for harassment and share the view that victims must have a clear and immediate recourse to effective remedies. The work of this group will help our branch take the necessary steps to ensure an exemplary workplace for every court employee.”

The working group was created in the aftermath of the scandal late last year involving Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Media reports and personal narratives of former law clerks and others revealed numerous incidents of inappropriate and harassing behavior by Kozinski. They also spotlighted the difficulty of making complaints about his behavior because of the longstanding tradition, which Kozinski exploited, of complete confidentiality in the relationship between judges and their clerks.

Kozinski retired Dec.18, a move that ended an internal investigation of his conduct. In December, Roberts asked Duff to create the working group to grapple with the issue of harassment throughout the judiciary.

Goodwin Procter associate Jaime Santos, a former Ninth Circuit clerk and a leader of the push toward improving workplace conditions, said Tuesday in a statement:

“I'm pleased to see how seriously the judiciary is taking this issue and that it is considering a wide range of policy and process changes to address sexual harassment. I, along with Kendall Turner and a current law clerk, met with the working group about 10 days ago and provided numerous detailed recommendations, many of which I am happy to see on the initial list circulated by the judiciary today. We look forward to continuing to work with the working group as they gather information. weigh options, and develop an implementation plan. I hope that the working group affords sufficient time to the process to ensure that it understands the full scope of the issue and the barriers to reporting that must be overcome for any changes to be effective. I also encourage the working group to continue this type of transparency as it completes its important work.”

Duff said the working group has held two meetings since its creation in January, and will meet again in early April. The group invited former and current clerks to its most recent meeting, and established a mailbox on uscourts.gov to receive comments from current and former judiciary employees. A full report from the group is expected in May 2018.  

Among the changes that are already underway or being developed:

• A session on sexual harassment during the ethics training for newly appointed judges in February.
• In-person programs on judiciary workforce policies and procedures and workplace sexual harassment were added to the curricula at Federal Judicial Center programs for chief district and chief bankruptcy judges.
• Improvement of law clerk and employee orientations. with increased training on workplace conduct rights, responsibilities and recourse.
• Examining and clarifying the Codes of Conduct for judges and employees.
• Reviewing the confidentiality provisions in several employee/law clerk handbooks to clarify that nothing in the provisions prevents the filing of a complaint.
• Clarifying the data that the judiciary collects about judicial misconduct complaints to add a category for any complaints filed relating to sexual misconduct. According to the administrative office, of the 1,303 misconduct complaints filed in fiscal year 2016, more than 1,200 were filed by dissatisfied litigants and prison inmates. No complaints were filed by law clerks or judiciary employees and no misconduct complaints related to sexual harassment.