6 February, 2023
On Friday, February 3, Aigars Strupišs, Chair of the Judicial Council, and Dzintra Balta, Deputy Chair of the Judicial Council, visited the Riga City Court on a working visit. The judges of the Riga City Court called on the Judicial Council to continue the initiated work on balancing the workload of judges.
During the visit, Aigars Strupišs informed the judges of the Riga City Court about the strategy of the Judicial Council for 2021 to 2025. Moreover, A. Strupišs introduced the judges to the work priorities of the Judicial Council for 2023 that include strengthening the status of the Judicial Council, improving the system of professional evaluation and remuneration of court employees, as well as improving the efficiency of judicial work.
One of the priority activities of the Judicial Council in 2022 was the balancing of judicial workload in Riga courts. The Riga City Court, which was created by merging Vidzeme District Court, Latgale District Court and Pārdaugava District Court, started its work on August 1, 2022. The judges of the city of Riga informed the representatives of the Judicial Council about the progress of the reform and drew attention to several issues related to workload and efficiency. The judges called on the Judicial Council to proceed with the work on balancing the workload of judges within the entire territory of the country. Apart from merging the courts, another solution could also be a unified distribution of cases on administrative violations and a more active transfer of cases for examination to courts outside Riga.
While discussing the issue of remuneration of court employees, A. Strupišs pointed out that after the approval of the 2023 state budget, a 16% salary increase is expected for court employees. "In parallel to solving the remuneration issue, it is necessary to think about raising the qualification requirements for judge assistants. For that reason, the Judicial Council together with the working group for strengthening the efficiency of the judiciary is working on the improvement of the institution of judge assistants," emphasized A. Strupišs. Whereas, the judges of the Riga City Court noted that currently the judge assistants cannot provide full-fledged professional support to judges. Judge assistants spend a large part of their work performing technical duties, such as entering information into the Court Information System and into the electronic case management system.
Dzintra Balta, Deputy Chair of the Judicial Council, informed the judges of the Riga City Court about the new procedure for the selection of judges for judicial positions in both district (city) courts and regional courts. The judges made suggestions for improving the selection procedure. At the same time, the judges emphasized that currently there are significant differences between the remuneration systems of judges and prosecutors, which provide several advantages to prosecutors and do not contribute to their becoming of judges.
In conclusion, the representatives of the Judicial Council invited the judges of the Riga City Court to submit proposals to the Secretariat of the Judicial Council that could improve the procedural regulation and the work of the courts.
Additional information:
The Judicial Council participates in the development of the policy and strategy of the judicial system, as well as in the improvement of the work organization of the judicial system. Therefore, in order to ensure a high-quality and direct dialogue with the judiciary, the members of the Judicial Council have also met with the judges of the Latgale, Zemgale, Vidzeme, Kurzeme and Riga regional courts, as well as with the judges of the Economic Court. Members of the Judicial Council also plan to visit the Administrative Regional Court and other courts of first instance.