The need for tutors in the Macedonian judiciary
A tutor is a judge with many years of experience who has completed tutoring training and is selected/appointed by a court president to introduce and upgrade the knowledge of newly elected judges when they start work in a particular court. In that direction, the support for the newly elected judges and the way in which they will fulfill their public duties and the quality of judicial activities is the responsibility of the court itself, in fact of the president of the court if no program, act or law regulating tutoring has been previously adopted. So, the court, that is, the president of the court, has the authority to appoint a tutor, to determine the duration of the tutorship and to determine his necessary qualifications and characteristics. The tutorship of newly elected judges is limited in time and, according to comparative experiences, usually lasts up to two years. During this period, newly elected judges learn judicial skills from more experienced judges.
The newly elected judges in the first-instance courts have already undergone initial training and have gained practical experience of working in the courts, but the fact that they will face the real role and responsibility of judges for the first time cannot be overlooked.
Promoted judges in appellate courts need another form of mentoring, as they generally have experience as judges in other courts. The work in the courts of appeal is different from that in the courts of first instance, primarily due to the fact that they usually function in chambers of three judges. Tutoring for newly elected judges of the Supreme Court has its specificities, primarily due to the special way of functioning, taking into account the complexity of their work.
Characteristics that tutors and mentors should possess
Tutor judges should be experienced, accessible and receptive, interested in supporting younger colleagues, have experience with training young people in the court, have established attitudes to introduce the new judge to further work without a superior relationship or too much requirements, as well as being able to transfer skills related to conducting hearings.
The first and basic feature of tutoring is that the judge is motivated to be a tutor. Tutoring, as experts point out, takes quite a lot of time, because the tutor goes through cases that need to be discussed with the new judge, attends hearings, pays attention to the well-being and progress of the new judge, and also conveys ethical aspects to him. Tutoring should be considered as a part of the work tasks of the judges and precisely because of this, it is necessary to think in the direction of reducing the workload of the tutor judges during the period while they are actively functioning as tutors. However, according to experts, compensation for tutoring or mentoring should not be the main motive for providing this type of support to newly elected judges.
Unlike the tutor, the mentor is a judge who is appointed to guide the candidate judge through the practical work in the court during the introductory training program which will be coordinated by the Academy of Judges and Public Prosecutors (ASJO). Considering differences in the concepts and meaning of the role of tutors and mentors, there are also differences in their practical behavior. Namely, mentors train candidate judges for the practical performance of the profession before being elected as judges, while tutors should help and support newly elected judges in their further careers. Mentors are appointed by the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors, several mentors within one mentoring team for one candidate, distributed in appellate areas depending on the period and the institution in which they perform the practical training. Mentors are a type of educators who should possess good communication and training skills. At the same time, they should share knowledge and information, and also have an understanding of the needs of the candidates.
In North Macedonia, “tutoring” has not yet officially started in practice.
In the Republic of North Macedonia, there are still no standardized rules and regulations regarding the conditions for the selection and appointment of tutors and their rights and obligations, which is why in practice the “tutoring” of newly elected judges has not yet officially started.
However, although there are no legal and by-laws, judges with longer experience based on their good will always help the newly elected judges by giving them information about the manner, conditions, conduct and practice in the work, explains the judge from the Court of Appeal Skopje, Tanja Mileva .
At the same time, Mileva points out the need to establish standardized rules that will accurately determine the conditions and procedure for the selection/appointment of tutors, the rights and obligations of tutors and newly elected judges, and the method and procedure for assistance and support of newly elected judges through the preparation of a plan and a “work” program.
Unlike tutoring, mentoring is regulated by the Law on the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors and according to this Law, the Academy is the only body responsible for initial training of future judges and prosecutors. The trainings are carried out by ASJO certified mentors (selected by the courts and prosecutor’s offices), who have proven capacities and are appointed trainers of candidates in the judiciary. According to the acts of the ASJO, for a candidate to be a mentor, it is necessary to be an active judge or public prosecutor, with at least 8 years of work experience, continuous positive evaluation, ability and readiness to transfer experiences and knowledge, and completed mentor training (coaches ) organized by the Academy.
Dutch experience for Macedonian judges
A workshop for tutors was organized by the Center for Legal Research and Analysis within the project “Improvement of quality and responsibility in the Macedonian judicial system” supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Skopje. The experiences were shared by judge Bert Maan, former judge and president of the court in Zwolle – the Netherlands, and Marina Naumovska Milevska, a specialist in the education of judges. , The comparative experiences of tutors’ work in the Netherlands, England and Wales, Germany, France and Belgium were also presented.
The experiences gained at the training were further transferred to the workshops held in the four appellate areas, on the topic “The role and necessary skills of the mentors of newly elected and promoted judges”.
The present participants of the workshops, as Judge Mileva says, expressed their willingness and desire to help and support the newly elected and promoted judges, with the aim of strengthening their capacities during their career, their development and familiarization with the way of working in the court, promotion of qualities such as impartiality, independence, responsibility, behavioral skills, in which way they will successfully perform their duties, increasing confidence in the judiciary in our country.
– The large number of cases handled by the judges, their burden of trials, as well as the responsibility in the area of efficient, effective and quality delivery of justice the most common reasons that the judges point out as an obstacle to such additional engagement with the newly elected judges, Judge Mileva points out. .
According to her, tutoring should be in the interest of both the tutor judge and the newly elected or promoted judge, based on goodwill and desire to transfer their knowledge and experience to the newly elected judges who are expected to make fair and legal decisions, and to the judge tutor that such additional work is an opportunity for his advancement in the court where he works, but also in the higher court.
What is the international practice for the “tutoring” of newly elected judges?
In the Netherlands, before appointment, candidate judges usually undergo an initial training of two to four years duration, which usually consists of work in everyday judicial practice in at least two departments of the court. Candidates for judges gradually acquire skills, become familiar with the values and attitudes of the court and are given the opportunity to attend trials within the council. During the initial training, each candidate judge will be supported by at least one tutor, as well as a second tutor who will help in acquiring the necessary skills and attitudes.
These types of initial training – which are mainly carried out in first-instance courts (all cases in the Netherlands are heard in the first instance by a total of 11 general first-instance courts) have an average of 110 judges and 650 people as support staff. The court board consists of a president (judge) and a manager (who is not a judge) and a third member, a judge, who is in charge of quality, training and education. This judge/board member coordinates the educational activities and through the contact person (judge) in one of the three departments ensures that a sufficient number of tutors will be available and will be assigned to each trainee/candidate. For those tutors, the Center for the Training of Judges and Prosecutors organizes dedicated training, as well as training on adult learning methods, lecturers’ attitudes, coping with stress, giving feedback, and learning approach from professionals in small groups.
The judiciary in England and Wales operates at two levels the courts proper and the higher court system. The courts usually select very experienced lawyers, mainly high court barristers, who have so much experience and support that there is no need for introductory support.
This is different in the second system, the higher courts, where about 98% of all court cases are heard and decided upon. Senior judges are volunteers elected at the local level supported by a clerk in each court. Before being appointed, senior judges undergo an introductory training of at least 3 days. One year after the appointment they should undergo capacity building training aimed at reflecting and building on their experience and competence as senior judges. In addition, training is regularly provided by the Judicial College to ensure that senior judges remain competent and confident in their role. Finally, mandatory “first continuing” training is conducted for all senior judges who have been in office for at least three years. All new senior judges are assigned a mentor, an experienced senior judge who has undergone training for this type of work. The mentor will advise, support and guide the senior judges, especially in the first few months. The mentor will attend six hearings of the new senior judges. They will then discuss what happened on the day, which helps consolidate everything learned during the initial training.
In Germany, as in most European countries, young lawyers can be selected as judges without initial training. Very often they work as judges with no or very short introduction to their field of work. Therefore, there is a need for additional training at an early stage after appointment, in order to acquire the necessary expertise and knowledge of day-to-day court developments. What’s more, sometimes only a fraction of the average workload is assigned to junior judges. Also, in some judicial administrations, experienced judges are required to act as advisors or tutors to junior judges and prosecutors. A junior judge is given full judicial independence in the performance of his or her duties. Of course, this does not preclude the possibility of seeking the opinion and advice of senior judges on a voluntary basis. In the regional courts (Landgericht) junior judges are often appointed to panels of three judges. In this way, they share decision-making responsibility with senior colleagues and gain experience by following their work. In jurisdictions with a single judge or with judges who are accompanied by two lay judges, some courts have introduced a more or less informal period of two to eight weeks for opening instructions. During this period, new judges are not assigned cases but may accompany and observe older judges in their work.
In addition, some of the courts have introduced mandatory seminars for junior judges, all in order to have continuous education. Participation is mandatory, and aims to enable participants to acquire the standard skills required to work as a referee.
According to the work plan of such seminars, topics related to the organization of the courts, cooperation within the courts and their councils, dealing with parties in the court process, work techniques, trial planning, as well as the understanding of the role and function of the judge are covered.
The seminars also cover the psychological aspects of communicating with the parties in the court process and lawyers, providing facts, questioning witnesses, evaluating evidence, as well as discovering and dealing with conflicts, dealing with trials, time management, and workflow management. , as well as speech techniques.
As for France, as experts point out, it cannot be said that support for newly elected judges is systematically organized. In fact, before completing the initial training program and at the time of leaving the Ecole Nationale pour la Magistrature ENM, the trainees, called “auditeurs”, must follow a three-month training in court for the specialty they will practice ( such as “Juge d’instruction” – investigative judge – or other areas of specialty). During the training, they will work together with an experienced judge and thus get to know the way the system works. However, when they start working in another court they are not offered any special support because they are considered to be complete judges who can perform the duties for which they are appointed. On the other hand, when during the judicial career the function of a judge changes, a mandatory two-week ENM course must be followed before the change takes place, in order to be fully acquainted and informed about the specific judicial practice and ways of working in the court.
In Belgium, initial training for judges is carried out in which the candidates work as trainees in the courts, with the support and training of an experienced judge as a “stagemeester” (training teacher). In addition, they follow a compulsory education program regulated by each of the regions in Belgium. At the end of the training, an assessment is made in order to decide on the eligibility for the position in the judiciary. After successfully completing a formal examination, candidates are selected as judges, usually in the court where they are already active. Each court determines how a new judge will be supported, but no formal curriculum applies.
Criminal cases of a serious nature will be heard in the first instance by a panel of three judges. Usually, the new judge will be placed in one of the councils so that he can gain experience and understand how judges normally operate.
Until recently, the law stipulated that new judges could act individually only after a certain period, but the president of the court could decide otherwise, possibly based on an assessment of the judge’s quality. As a member of the three-judge panel, the judge has the opportunity to gain experience in writing, reading and commenting on judgments, as more senior colleagues do.
Experienced lawyers with no prior education or judicial experience are still nominated as justices of the peace (judges for simpler cases). Formal support for these judges is not regulated, which sometimes leads to flaws in the reasoning in written judgments.
The Belgian judiciary has two institutes for good, quality judicial education (Dutch and French speaking), which usually ask judges and prosecutors what their educational needs are on an annual basis. They organize education themselves, for example on criminal topics and other issues such as women’s rights, but also enable them to follow training with other certified general education institutes at their own expense.
There is no power without duty and no duty without responsibility
The good work of judges is the responsibility of the courts themselves. In the world-level organization, the principle that the three elements: power-duty-responsibility belong to each other in an indissoluble relationship means that there is no power without duty, and there is no duty without responsibility. This indicates that the quality of judicial activities in the court is the responsibility of the court itself, and it means that the court must have the authority to take necessary measures to enable the same.