26 March 2023

CEPEJ-Pilot Courts(2023)E/OJ/Prov1

The aim of this meeting is three-fold:

1.     inform pilot courts of the CEPEJ tools recently adopted

2.     gather feedback of pilot courts on the various ongoing work of the CEPEJ

3.     exchange the views with pilot courts on the possible new tools useful for their practice

1.     9.00 – 9.30:  Registration of participants

Venue: GG-150, Kardynał Stefan Wyszyński Room - auditorium

2.     9.30 – 9.45: Opening of the meeting

-       Opening speech by Francesco Depasquale, President of the CEPEJ

-       Opening speech by Marcin Romanowski, Deputy Minister of Justice, Poland

-       Opening speech by Andrzej Herbet, Dean of the Faculty of Law, John Paul II Catholic

University of Lublin

3.     9.45 – 10.00: Work of the CEPEJ

-       Presentation of CEPEJ main achievements in 2022 and priorities for 2023 by Muriel Décot,

Secretary of the CEPEJ

4.     10.00 – 12.30: Parallel workshops[1]

-       Workshop 1: Backlog reduction tool

Room: CTW-216

Key points for discussion:

Ø  What should contain a backlog reduction tool to be useful for courts? 

Ø  What measures did your court/country take to prevent and reduce a backlog?

Ø  What difficulties did you encounter in fighting backlogs?

Reference document

Ø  Concept note on the preparation of a backlog reduction tool

-       Workshop 2: Evaluation of the performance of judges

Room: GG-150, Kardynał Stefan Wyszyński Room – auditorium

Key points for discussion:

Ø  What are the different models of evaluation of judges within the Network’s members?

Ø  Shall the focus of the work of CEPEJ be put on evaluation of the quality of judges’ work or rather efficiency criteria and indicators?

Ø  What would be the main criteria for the evaluation of the quality of judges’ work?

Reference documents

Ø  Questionnaire on the evaluation of the performance of judges

-       Workshop 3: Measures to prevent and reduce the excessive workload in the courts

Room: CTW-217

Key points for discussion:

Ø  What measures to add to update Recommendation (86)12 to respond to new challenges faced by the courts concerning the excessive workload?

Ø  What non-judicial tasks can judges be relieved from to reduce the excessive workload of judges?

Reference documents

Ø  Draft Opinion of the CEPEJ on the update of Recommendation (86)12

Ø  Recommendation (86)12 of the Committee of Ministers to member States concerning measures to prevent and reduce the excessive workload in the courts

5.     12.30:  End of the morning session

-             Lunch break

6.     14.00 – 17.30:  Plenary session[2]

Venue: GG-150, Kardynał Stefan Wyszyński Room - auditorium

7.     14.00 – 14.30:  Debriefing from the workshops

-       Summary of the discussion in the workshops by rapporteurs followed by discussion

8.     14.30 – 15.30: Brainstorming: Role of the pilot courts in the work of the CEPEJ

-       Presentation by Paweł Wrzaszcz, District Court of Lublin-East, to kick off discussion

Ø  How can the CEPEJ be useful for the pilot courts?

Ø  How can pilot courts contribute to make the CEPEJ tools fully operational?

What tools can be tested in pilot courts?

Ø  How can pilot courts contribute to make the work of the CEPEJ more visible?

9.     15.30 – 16.00: CEPEJ Resource Centre on Cyberjustice and Artificiel Intelligence (AI)

-       Presentation of the Resource Centre and the discussion on its use in practice

Reference document

Ø  Link to the Resource Centre on Cyberjustice and AI

10.  16.30 – 17.00: Tool to analyse the timeframes according to the various steps of the civil procedure

-       Presentation of the replies to the questionnaire on analysing the length of civil proceedings

Reference document

Ø  Questionnaire on analysing the length of civil proceedings

11.  16.30 – 17.30: Main recent developments in the pilot courts

-       Presentation by pilot courts of any reform, initiative or good practices concerning

the functioning of justice, judicial time management and the organisation of courts

12.  17.30: End of the meeting

-       Concluding speech by Marek Mielnik, President of District Court Lublin-East

13.  19.30:  Dinner - Grand Hotel “Lublinianka”, Krakowskie Przedmieście Street 56, Lublin