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I. Judicial training and legitimacy

I. Judicial training and legitimacy

Judicial institutions will inevitably experience periods of doubt, or even distrust, on the part of their partners and the people under their jurisdiction. Judges and prosecutors themselves are not exempt, in the case of reforms that affect their prerogatives, from uneasiness or identity crises. To what extent can judicial training safeguard the trust placed in institutions and their stakeholders ? The following topics, amongst others, will be addressed : Judicial training and restoration of trust: meeting professionals' needs or society's expectations ? Identification of judicial training needs: which tools ? How can training be used to respond to an identity crisis in a profession, notably a judiciary ? Should on-going training be mandatory ? Restoring image and trust: training in ethics and deontology ; Restoring image and trust: training on judicial communication and media training. Which part for Research departments within training institutions?

Monday 31 October

11:15 AM to 12:00 AM

Plenary 01: Judicial training, confidence and legitimacy
Between judge’s needs and societal expectations, what are the main objectives of judicial training? What gives judges legitimacy? How can judicial training help foster legitimacy?

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2:30 PM to 3:45 PM

Roundtable 01: Training judges on communication
How can judicial communication be defined and what are its specific features (internal, external communication)? To what extent does the ability to communicate affect the confidence placed in judges and accordingly their legitimacy? How can judges be trained on communication? What teaching methods should be used?

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Roundtable 02: Recruitment of judges: stakes and challenges
The recruitment of judges can also condition their legitimacy. What are the challenges posed by recruitment (transparency, representativeness with regard to society …)? This workshop will consider the various recruitment practices in different judicial cultures and examine to what extent these practices can influence the teaching orientations of different schools.

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Roundtable 03: Ethics and deontology
A judge’s behaviour in the course of his duties and his private life necessarily play a role in the image which he conveys and the perception of those who stand before him at trial. How can judges be made more aware of these challenges during their training? How can such issues be addressed, while respecting judicial independence?

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4:30 PM to 5:45 PM

Roundtable 04: Training judges on the administration of justice
The management and administration of justice have long been missing from judicial training programmes. And yet the role of judges goes beyond their purely judicial activity, whether they are assisted by clerks or assistants or whether they act as departmental managers or heads of courts. Between legitimacy and efficiency, a need for training on managerial skills has progressively emerged.

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Roundtable 05: Judicial training as a response to a confidence crisis
Judges are sometimes subject to criticism from society as a whole. Miscarriages of justice or corruption scandals can sometimes decrease society’s confidence in judges. How can judicial training help restore this confidence?

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Roundtable 06: Multicultural societies and judicial training
The development of migratory flows and the progressive construction of multicultural societies are among the consequences of globalisation. Since cultural, religious, linguistic and other forms of diversity are now to be found in one single territory, how can judges, who represent public authority, be prepared for this plurality?

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