Coalition Members:

Reform of the Admission of Listeners to the High School of Justice

(Changes in the Law on High School of Justice)
The role and functions of the High School of Justice are a part of the system
of judicial selection and appointment. Without reforming the School a
systemic transformation of the process is impossible. Nowadays functions of
the High School of Justice are unreasonably regulated. Also, the division of
powers between the High Council of Justice and the High School of Justice is
flawed. In order to create a transparent, fair and objective system of judicial
selection and appointment, it is essential to follow these principles from the
starting point, i.e. in the process of admission of listeners to the High School
of Justice.
The admission to the High School of Justice should be based solely on the
objective criterion results of the judicial qualification exam. Such an
approach will ensure fairness and impartiality of the process and will avoid a
type of the decision-making process, which is based on subjective views.
This requires improvement of the judicial qualification exams that should
assess not only a candidates legal knowledge, but also her/his legal
analytical, argumentation, and reasoning skills. At the transitional stage,
before improving the judicial qualification exam and adopting this model, it
is important to fill existing gaps and improve certain aspects of the current
procedure for the competition.
Nowadays admission of listeners to the School is carried out by the High
Council of Justice. This is an inappropriate function for this body. In
addition, there is a need to make the selection process more transparent.
Criteria, evaluation rules and the decision-making procedure shall be clearly
regulated. Accordingly the Coalition presents the following recommendations
for the reform of the High School of Justice:

Reform of the procedure for the formation of the Independent Council

at the High School of Justice - out of 6 members 3 judge members, which
are not members of High Council of Justice, are elected by the Judicial
Conference. From the 3 non-judge members, 1 represents the High Council
of Justice, the remaining 2 are selected from academic circles and civil
society organizations by the Public Defender based on the preliminarily
established criteria; Chairman of the Independent Council will be elected by
the independent Council members.
Increasing transparency of the Independent Councils activities an
obligation for proactive publication of information is established in the law.
Information regarding sessions and decisions shall be posted on the webpage.
Increasing the Schools role a competition for the admission of listeners
shall be announced by the High School of Justice, instead of High Council
of Justice;

Article 42 of the
Constitution
Multinational Georgia
Georgia Small and
Medium Enterprise
Association
Civil Integration
Foundation
Georgian Lawyers for
Independent Profession
Liberal
Center for Protection of
Constitutional Rights
International Society
for Fair Elections and
Democracy
The Union 21 Century
Georgian Young
Lawyers Association
Human Right Center
Transparency
International
Union of Meskhetian
Democrats
Liberty Institute
Civil Development
Agency
United Nations
Association of Georgia
The European Law
Students Association
Civil Society Institute
Open Society Georgia
Foundation
Institute of Democracy
American Chamber of
Commerce
Eurasia Partnership
Foundation
Institute of
Development of
Freedom of Information
Human Rights Priority
Tbilisi Media Club
Human Rights
Education and
Monitoring Centre
Foundation for the
Support of Legal
Education
Institute of Civil
Engagement
Association of law firms
of Georgia
Association of Young
Economists of Georgia
European Choice of
Georgia
Liberal Academy
Georgia
Partnership for Human

Setting clear selection criteria and stricter requirements (work

experience, masters degree etc.) in the law qualification, legal analysis
and argumentation skills, oral communication skills;
Establishing an objective and well-reasoned evaluation process in the
law assessment of candidates according to the specific criteria will ensure
objectiveness and clarity of the process.
Appeal of the decision - decisions regarding admission of the listeners to
the School can be appealed at the Supreme Court Qualifications Chamber.
Other norms, which regulate the competition, are established in the law
- setting norms regarding conflict of interest, prohibition of improper
communication, also establishing guarantees for transparency of the
competition.

The Recommended Procedure

Preparatory Stage: the number of listeners and regularity of competitions are
defined by the High School of Justice based on an agreement with the High
Council of Justice competition announcement: a competition for the
admission of listeners is announced by the High School of Justice 1st
stage of the competition: screening of the documents provided by candidates
2nd stage of the competition: interviewing the candidates during the
Independent Councils open session candidate evaluation stage: members
of the Independent Council are individually assessing candidates compliance
with every criterion and writing explanations for assigned scores
calculating the final score of an interview: total scores assigned by each
member of the independent Council is divided by the number of the members
enrolment in the School: candidates scores for interviews are added to
judicial qualification exams score and the candidates with highest scores are
admitted to the School to fill vacancies. appeal of the decision: a decision
by the Independent Council can be appealed at the Supreme Court
Qualifications Chamber.