What is the role of judicial governance in the process of the digitisation of judicial systems? How should courts communicate in the 21st century? What activities may judges undertake beyond their judicial role? The answers to these questions were sought by experts and representatives of the judiciary at Villa Grébovka as part of the training organised by the TRIIAL 2 project.
The training organised by JUSTIN was the final event in the series of training programmes of the inter-institutional cooperation TRIIAL 2 (TRust, Independence, Impartiality and Accountability of Legal professionals under the EU Charter), led by the EUI Centre for Judicial Cooperation and supported by DG JUST of the European Commission. he aim of the more than two-year project was to bring together academic institutions and create a platform providing training activities and tools for the legal professionials to effectively apply the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The project also resulted in a freely accessible database of decisions of EU jurisdictions relevant for Judicial Interaction Mechanisms (JITs) or the national application of the Charter.
The JUSTIN team welcomed a number of distinguished speakers and guests at Villa Grébovka, including Marta Cartabia (Vice-President of the Venice Commission), Petra Škvařilová-Pelzl (European General Court), Kateřina Šimáčková (ECtHR), Zdeněk Kühn (Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic), Wojciech Postulski (European Commission), Filippo Donati (former ENCJ President), Christiane Schmaltz (German Federal Court of Justice) and others.
The Prague seminar covered three main topics: extrajudicial activities of judges, communication and digitisation of courts:
🔹 The communications panel focused on the modern outreach of courts towards the public beyond the traditional "speaking through judgments". Participants acknowledged that in times of continuous attacks on judicial independence and increasing polarisation of society, courts need to actively engage with public. One way to counter the perception of judicial decision-making as occurring in an "ivory tower" is to adopt a communication strategy that targets various segments of society and emphasizes transparency in sharing information about the courts' work. Judges from national courts in Italy and Germany, as well as from the CJEU and the ECtHR provided their first-hand experience in this area.
🔹 The public image of the judiciary also encompasses the public appearance of individual judges outside their professional mandate. Specific rules apply to the freedom of expression of judges in times of democracy backsliding, particularly in the instances of judicial demonstrations. Additionally, speakers also discussed the broader issue of factors influencing the use of judges in non-judicial roles. A case study focusing on publishing and legislative activities sought to clarify the boundaries between professional, remunerative and political activities of judges.
🔹 The third session was dedicated to sharing experiences in the field of digitisation and the use of AI tools in the judiciary. Progress was illustrated by examples from the judicial systems of the Czech Republic and Spain, the European Commission's Digital Justice@2030 programme and the tools developed by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ). A key issue was the quest for a compromise between effective digital governance of the judiciary and respect for the principles of judicial independence. The responsibility of the courts in this area is all the greater as they often play an active role at the expense of passive regulation at the state level.
Ondřej Kadlec, Šimon Chvojka and Viktória Alžbeta Sutórisová participated in preparing the content of the training, which was co-ordinated by Kateřina Hobzová and Petra Pichaničová. We are grateful to the CEELI Institute for providing the premises.
A workshop on judicial governance will take place in Prague on February 27–28, 2025, focusing on digitalisation, court communication strategies, and judges' extrajudicial activities. This hybrid event invites judges, prosecutors, and legal professionals to engage with experts from across Europe. Participants will gain practical insights while fostering international collaboration.
Years of research and a dedicated workshop in Prague in the Autumn of 2022 have culminated in the publication of a Special Issue of the German Law Journal. The Special Issue concludes the first INFINITY work package. It advances research on the often overlooked role of informality in courts and judicial administration through 19 articles on over 360 pages – including the introduction, 13 case studies and five topical articles.
