On the 13-14th of June, the experts of the Project team had the pleasure to meet with other professionals in the area at the international conference on the “Model of selection, evaluation and promotion of judges: International conference “Model of selection, evaluation and promotion of judges: What competences and skills matter? Best practices and trends”. The conference was organized by the The Albanian High Judicial Council and Albanian Supreme Court, in cooperation with the Tirana Legal Aid Society at a venue in Tirana (Albania).
The conference was held in a hybrid format and convened more than 130 experts from Europe, who participated both in person and online. The President of the Albanian Judicial Council Mrs Naureda Llagami and the President Albanian Supreme Court Sokol Sadushi, Head of the NGO Tirana Legal Aid Society Raimonda Bozo together with the international experts, such as the President of the Lithuanian Judicial Council Sigita Rudenaite Judge of the General Court of the European Union Rimvydas Norkus and other honorable members of the judiciary, academia and non-governmental organizations were able to attend the conference in person.
The conference was opened by Mr. Gian Luca Bombarda, who has emphasized the necessity of international cooperation in the area: to research and evaluate best practises and models and provide an opportunity for the countries to adapt these practises to their own national legal framework.
The main aim of the conference was to share the intermediate findings of the research, carried out by the project team, while at the same time to hear new ideas and insights from professionals outside the Project team. Given the scope of the Project the two-day conference was split topic-wise. During the first day of the conference the topic of the procedures on selection and evaluation of judges was covered. This day provided a comprehensive overview of the jurisprudence of the European courts in the area of selection and appointment procedures, personality traits that a person, wishing to become a judge, should poses, and key competences that should be evaluated at this stage.
The topic of judges’ evaluation was covered from the perspective of Albanian system and an issue of evaluation as a guarantee of competences, qualifications and career transparency was discussed. The second day consisted of two sessions: one dedicated to judicial activities and ethics, where requirements for a judge inside and outside the courtroom were discussed; and second – concentrating on the procedures of promotion of judges, where the practise of Poland and Albania were presented and the most relevant skills and competences in promotion to managerial positions was covered.
Starting with the Albanian model, the conference provided a venue to discuss different systems of judicial career, challenges in the area as well as advanced international practices and methods. Additionally, the conference has shed light on public expectations towards judges as professionals and individuals, and allowed to ponder over the balance of effectiveness of recruitment vs technocratically constructed procedures to attain the objective of transparency.
A distinctive feature of the conference was that it gathered together not only legal practitioners and professionals working the justice system, such as prosecutors, attorneys at law, court clerks, but also with non-judicial actors: the NGO’s specialised as the legal aid providers – in particular. The discussions have highlighted the role of academia, civil society, medial and business community as part of the larger public defining the expectations about the “judge” and the measures in the selection, evaluation and promotion of justice that may boost public confidence in the delivery of justice.
Prof. dr. Salvija Mulevičienė