15 May, 2024
On Friday, May 17, the Latvian Judges Conference will be held. Judges from all over Latvia will discuss what a judge should be like in the 21st century.
Aigars Strupišs, Chair of the Judicial Council of Latvia, stated that “the judiciary is probably the most conservative one among the branches of state power. At the same time, in order to ensure the guarantees of the rule of law that meet the demands of modern society, the judiciary must follow transformation processes taking place in society and adapt to them. The conference aims at having a look at the social changes in the 21st century, as well as to seek answers to whether and how society has changed and whether judges should also change”.
The conference will be opened by Aigars Strupišs, Chair of the Judicial Council of Latvia, who will look back at the last year’s achievements of the judicial system, will look at current events, and will also share a future vision of the judicial system's development possibilities. Moreover, the opening speeches will be given by Aldis Laviņš, President of the Constitutional Court of Latvia, Inese Lībiņa-Egnere, Minister of Justice of Latvia.
In the first part of the conference, Professor Zanda Rubene will provide an insight into modern society and its needs, as well as offer a point of view of a 21st century judge, looking at it through three dimensions – "a perfect judge", "a real judge" and "a practical judge". Professor Ineta Ziemele, Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union, will speak about the requirements for a European judge in the 21st century. Whereas, Senator Rudīte Vīduša, Member of the Judicial Qualification Committee, will share the findings of the process of evaluating the professional performance of judges and the challenges of the profession of a judge. Psychotherapist Ansis Jurģis Stabingis will speak from the perspective of mindfulness training and will offer a practical insight into methods that may be used by a judge for dealing with high workload and challenges of the profession.
In the second part of the conference, judges will discuss the ways of finding balance between the perfect, real and practical judge. Veronika Krūmiņa, Senator of the Supreme Court of Latvia, will lead the discussion.
At the end of the conference, Solvita Kalniņa-Caune, Director of the Latvian Judicial Training Centre, will elaborate on the operation of the Latvian Judicial Training Centre, and Laila Jurcēna, Consultant at the Ministry of Justice for the establishment of the Academy of Justice, will inform participants about the progress of the judicial system's most significant development project "Academy of Justice" in recent years.
Additional information:
The Latvian Judges Conference is a self-government institution of judges, which is convened by the Judicial Council at least once a year. Judges of district (city) courts, regional courts and the Supreme Court take part in the conference. Members of the Judicial Council, judges of the Constitutional Court, Latvian judges in international courts and honorary judges are invited to participate in the conference as guests.
There are a total of 519 district (city), regional court and Supreme Court judges in Latvia.