On 15 September, candidates to an office of a judge and new judges, who study in the course for new judges at Latvian Judicial Training Centre, had class day in the Supreme Court. New and prospective judges met the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and got familiarised with history of the Supreme Court and Latvian court system.  

Ivars Bickovics, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, wished new judges courage to be independent and self-contained in their decisions. “Be fair, impartial, substantiate your opinion – and then, do not be afraid of your position,” the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court said, reminding of provision of the Judicial Code of Ethics that a judge, when adjudicating cases, may not be influenced by interests of particular persons, protests of society or fear of criticism.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court also stressed to new judges another values, which are important in judge’s work – extensive legal scope, continuous perfection, and good knowledge of case-law.  

The Chief Justice provided information on topical issues within the court system – terms of adjudication of cases, concept of court houses, system of professional evaluation of judges, activity of the Council for the Judiciary.

The Division of Communication, in turn, took new judges to a virtual guided tour over the web site of the Supreme Court, drawing attention to its stocks, which might be of particular usefulness in judges’ work, for example, various classifiers of case-law of the Supreme Court, data base of rulings of the European Court of Human Rights translated into Latvian, information on the Council for the Judiciary, etc.

In the second part of classes, new judges watched  historical documentary about the Senate of Latvia, watched the exhibition dedicated to the 150th anniversary of August Loeber, the senator of the Senate of Latvia,  and visited the museum of the Supreme Court.

New judges admitted that this day was an inspiring story to them about the office chosen by them, and historical roots of Latvian court system.  

Latvian Judicial Training Centre had organised study course for candidates to an office of a judge and new judges, which lasted for six weeks. The course includes strengthening of legal knowledge of judges, and development of skills, which are necessary to judge’s office. During the course, classes are conducted by several judges of the Supreme Court. This week, the judge Janis Neimanis read the lecture on argumentation, and Veronika Krumina, the Chair of the Department of Administrative Cases, read the lecture on preparation of rulings and legal language.   

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, the Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: 67020396, 28652211