This workshop is offered within the European Commission’s funded project TRIIAL 2 – TRust, Independence, Impartiality and Accountability of Legal professionals under the EU Charter – part 2 (project no. 101089737, JUST-2022-JTRA). The TRIIAL 2 project provides training activities and tools for judges, attorneys, and prosecutors on the European rule of law, mutual trust, judicial independence, impartiality and accountability (see the dedicated website https://cjc.eui.eu/projects/triial-2/ ).

What is the Cross-Border Workshop about?

Judges, prosecutors and lawyers occupy a critical and sensitive place in society; the way they conduct themselves has a direct impact on public confidence and the administration of justice. Therefore, they have a duty to maintain the highest ethical behaviour.

There are international standards that provide guidelines on the ethical conduct and fundamental principles of these professions. Independence, impartiality and integrity are the basis of the rule of law in a healthy democracy and ensure the protection of human rights.

In this respect, disciplinary matters represent the minimum ethical standards that can be expected of any magistrate and which determine, in the event of violation, the application of a sanction.

Starting from the international and European (CoE and EU) framework and the relevant jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union, the course aims to deepen the knowledge and understanding of professional tools and to develop the skills, based on practical examples, to deal with ethical dilemmas in the exercise of professional functions, also taking into account the disciplinary rules imposed to deal with the violation of the minimum ethical standard.

Methodology

• You will learn through:
  a 2-day hybrid workshop, including:
  • lectures and discussion sessions,
  • hypothetical case sessions, where participants will discuss real legal issues through a case, replicating real life scenarios, in small groups,
  • interactive discussion roundtable.
• preparatory materials distributed to participants in advance of the training:
  • thematic booklet on judicial ethics, disciplinary proceeding, touching also more generally on freedom of expression and association of magistrates
  • recorded lectures,
  • casenotes analysing the relevant national jurisprudence.

Target group

The Workshop will host 40 participants in presence and 20 online.
The participation is free of charge. In-person participants will be refunded under the rules of the EC projects.
The seminar is open to judges, prosecutors and attorneys from European Union (EU) countries. Participants will be issued attendance certificates.

Selection Process

The workshop is open to 40 legal practitioners (judges, public prosecutors, lawyers) from any EU country.
Applicants are invited to submit their application, in accordance with the requirements as specified below, by 18 April 2024 to progetti.eu@scuolamagistratura.it.

You should mention in the title of your email whether you want to participate in-person or online.

Application requirements

1. A full CV in English (including a section on proof of knowledge of English);
2. A very brief motivation letter in English explaining the candidate’s reasons of applying, how he or she would benefit from and contribute to the project. This letter should not merely restate the candidate’s CV. CV in English
Applicants will be notified about the result of the selection process by 20 April 2024.

Selection criteria

The selection process aims to identify participants who will effectively and substantially contribute to dissemination of project results. Thus, candidates are expected to have a general knowledge of and experience in the topic of the workshop. However, applicants are neither required to have participated in similar training programmes before, nor will recent participation in similar training programmes necessarily prevent them from being accepted.

The assessment of applications will be based on the following criteria:

1. Gender and age balanced;
2. Geographically balanced;
3. Diversity of legal competences: the call is open to civil, administrative, and criminal judges; inaddition, attorneys, public prosecutors, state attorneys, candidate judges, candidate prosecutors, candidate attorneys, judicial advisers can also apply.

4. Balance in the judicial hierarchy: both higher and lower instance courts shall be represented among selected participants;
5. Trainers will have priority in selection (please refer to relevant training responsibilities in your CV);
6. Knowledge of and experience with fundamental rights and rule of law issues;
7. Good knowledge of English;
8. Single participation within the same Training Project (TRIIAL 2): in principle, no participantcan take part in more than one Workshop among those offered within the TRIIAL 2 Project. In exceptional cases, deviations are subject to express and prior permission of the organiser.

Participants are asked to devote the necessary time to this training and to prepare for the workshop by reading the relevant materials in advance. The selected candidates are expected to be ready to commit to the active participation in the workshop.

Contact person and general information:

For any information on the workshop or doubts concerning the call for application, please contact progetti.eu@scuolamagistratura.it