The Croatian Judicial Academy
(Institution with the mission to make better judges and more capable judges)
The Croatian Judicial Academy is the central national public institution entrusted with judicial training in Croatia. It provides initial and continuous training in the judiciary including as follows:
- Training of trainees in judicial bodies as a preparation for the bar exam;
- Initial training of attendants of the State School for Judicial Officials (i.e. future judges and state attorneys). The State School for Judicial Officials is an integral unit of the Judicial Academy and has an essential role for all those who want to become a judge in Croatia;
- Continuous training of judicial assistants;
- Continuous training of judges and state attorneys;
- Continuous training of clerks in the judiciary.
For a better understanding of the functioning of the Judicial Academy, it would be useful to give some basic information on how one can become a judge. All formal requirements are prescribed in the Law on Courts. There are two main principles which one has to have in mind when exploring this topic. There is a difference in the system of entering the profession and for advancing in one's judicial career.
Formal requirements are to have a university law degree and having passed the bar exam. All lawyers fulfilling these two requirements can apply to enter the State School for Judicial Officers (School for Judges). If they pass the initial exam and gain a sufficient number of points, candidates will undergo two years of training in the School and at the same time they spend one half of the time in first instance courts working as judges’ assistants. The School accepts that number of candidates who could become judges having in mind the plan for filling in empty posts in the future.
After two years, candidates have to pass a final exam and if they pass it they are eligible to be appointed as judges to the courts where they apply. The decision is taken by the State Judicial Council which is the Constitutional body entitled to appoint and promote judges.
A parallel path to enter in the profession is for judges’ assistants, who are allowed, after having at least four years of experience in this capacity, to sit the final exam as attenders to the School for judges. If they pass that exam they can also apply to the vacant posts in the courts of first instance on the same terms.
Promotion to higher, second instance courts is possible only for judges from the first instance after certain years of experience as judges of lower courts (ten or twelve years).
An exception to above mentioned principles is only reserved for appointments to the Supreme Court where non-judges candidates can apply if they have 20 years of experience as lawyers, prosecutors, notaries or professors of law.
The training sessions are organized in Zagreb where the Judicial Academy is seated, as well as in its four regional training centers located at the County Courts (i.e. second-instance courts) of Split, Rijeka, Osijek and Varaždin. The main idea behind this decentralization of activities is not only to make it easier for judges to attend programs of the Academy, but also to have as much trainers as possible from the local courts who will work with judges they are close with, whom they know and for that reason it is easier to establish mutual trust and confidence between trainers and attenders of various programs.
The Academy was established in 2004 at the very beginning as a directorate within the Croatian Ministry of Justice and on 1 January 2010 it became a public institution independent from the Ministry of Justice.
It is of utmost importance that the Academy is an independent body governed by independent governance, mostly composed of judges and prosecutors, because this element of an independent training program provided by an independent body contributes to the independent and impartial position of judicial power.
The Judicial Academy has two key bodies, i.e. the Steering Council and the Program Council.
The Steering Council takes all the strategic decisions that are important for the functioning and development of the JA and it adopts the JA annual program.
It is chaired by the President of the Supreme Court of Croatia. Other members are a State Prosecutor, one professor of the Faculty of Law elected by deans of four faculties in the State, the President of the State Judicial Council, one judge of the Supreme Court elected by the General Assembly of the Court, one Deputy State Prosecutor , a representative of Academy workers, the Director General of the Academy and the Minister of Justice.
The Program Council is the expert body of the Judicial Academy which is in charge of drafting the annual program, selecting the trainers and verifying the training materials from different fields of law. It is composed of judges and state attorneys from all the judicial instances in Croatia and different types of courts. Judges in the Program Council are elected by the General Assembly of the Supreme Court and prosecutors are elected by the General Assembly of the State Prosecutorial Office. A judge of the Supreme Court is always presiding the Council.
The JA is headed by the Director appointed after public announcement by the Governing Council on a mandate of four years. The Director represents the JA in its relations with third parties and is managing the everyday functioning of the institution.
The JA at the moment has a staff of 24 persons. Its units are the State School for Judicial Officials, the Directorate for Continuous Judicial Training and the General Affairs Service.
The Judicial Academy has a wide pool of trainers, most of whom are judges and state attorneys, following the idea that only if training is generally governed through the axiom «judges for judges», it can meet needs of judges and can produce more capable and skillful judges. Of course, there are very specific topics where judges have not enough specific knowledge or experience. The Academy then engages experts in other fields like medicine, psychology, forensic science, linguistics, political science, etc. If that is the case, training topics are covered by university law professors, experts, academics and practitioners in other fields who are working together with judges or state attorneys.
The JA does not have a permanent teaching staff.
In its yearly program the Academy announces what courses, programs, workshops will be offered to judges and prosecutors. Those are free to apply to programs they feel could be useful for their professional development. But as citizens have a right to have knowledgeable and competent judges, provided by the State through the Academy’s activities, the presidents of courts have a duty to take care of the training of judges and have the authority to send judges to particular courses organized within the Academy.
Judges throughout their whole career have an obligation to attend at least two training courses in one year, and presidents of courts have an obligation to provide such possibility to judges in the court.
In many cases, judges, prosecutors and other law practitioners are attending together some of the programs. This allows an interactive exchange of views and helps to have a better understanding of each other’s roles.
In the Republic of Croatia there are no generalist judges, so the training programs for judges are also divided in programs for penal, civil, commercial and administrative judges; the Academy is taking care that all programs are equally represented in the Annual Program and Activities, so that the needs of all judges could be properly answered.
Duro Sessa, President of the Supreme Court of Republic of Croatia.
