Strasbourg, 17 December 2012
CCJE(2012)6
CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN JUDGES (CCJE)
Questionnaire for the preparation of the CCJE Opinion No. 16
on the relationship between judges and lawyers
and the concrete means to improve the efficiency and quality of judicial proceedings
A. Professional ethics, conduct and responsibility of judges and lawyers
- Does your country have a Code of Ethics or equivalent for judges? (please specify)
- Does your country have a Code of Ethics or equivalent for lawyers? (please specify)
- Does your country have any joint codes, rules and/or regulations concerning ethics of judges and lawyers? (please specify)
- Does your country plan to establish codes, rules and/or regulations concerning professional ethics, conduct and responsibility of both judges and lawyers, or to develop the existing ones?
- Does your country have any rules and/or regulations dealing in any manner with the issues of relations between judges and lawyers or is there any intention to establish such instruments in a joint manner for both groups (judges and lawyers)? If yes, please specify
- In your opinion, what are the main principles which should govern the ethics of:
- judges ?
- lawyers?
B. Training of judges and lawyers
- Which are, in your country, the training institutions:
- judges ?
- lawyers?
- Which kind of training curricula (initial and continuous training), in brief, do these training institutions have:
- judges ?
- lawyers?
- What is the duration of the initial training:
- judges ?
- lawyers?
- Does the initial training include issues related to the professional ethics, conduct and responsibility of judges and lawyers, their relations with each other, as well as their co-operation with a view of fair and efficient conclusion of judicial proceedings?
- Are there joint training courses for judges and lawyers?
If yes:
- what is their content and duration?
- are they mandatory for judges and lawyers?
- how are these courses funded?
If not, are they planned or discussed?
C. Efficiency and quality of judicial proceedings
- Are there any procedural instruments to facilitate the interaction between judges and lawyers during the proceedings? If yes, please specify.
- If not, how are they planned?
- How is the communication between judges and lawyers organised? Is it efficient? Are there computerised information systems to that end?
- Are there possibilities, procedures and mechanisms for judges and lawyers to come to an agreement concerning the judicial resolution of the case?
- If yes, is such agreement compulsory?
- Do they negotiatecertain phases of the procedure?
- Are there any legal instruments (substantive or procedural) which potentially could be used by judges to ignore, to disregard or in any manner to avoid taking into consideration the claims, demands and arguments of lawyers?
- Are there any legal instruments (substantive or procedural) which potentially could be used by lawyers to delay the consideration of the case, or to affect in any way its fair and efficient resolution?
- To what extent does the successful interaction between judges and lawyers depend on objective factors such as legislation, structures and procedures? Are there any plans to improve them?
- To what extent does such interaction depends on subjective factors such as the patterns of behaviour of individual judges and lawyers, their understanding of their role and responsibility, and/or their wish to work together in order to improve the procedure, etc.?
- How would you assess the relationship between judges and lawyers in your country? Are there any plans to take steps to improve the legal culture and to foster co-operation between judges and lawyers?
D. Role of judges and lawyers in responding to the needs of parties
- Please give some examples of co-operation between judges and lawyers in specific categories of cases (e.g. those ending in the peaceful settlement in civil claims).
- Do you have any possibility in your country for lawyers to become judges, and vice versa? If yes, is it frequent ?
- Can lawyers act, in your country, as deputy judges and if so, under what conditions ?
E. Judges, lawyers and media
- Have there been any reflections in the mass media as regards the relations between judges and lawyers and their co-operation?
- To what extent lawyers and judges comment in the media on pending cases and on judgments?