NLAO structure

INSTITUTE OF PROFESSIONAL JUDGES TRAINING

The legal system of Ukraine requires highly educated and thoroughly trained lawyers having all necessary practical and organizational skills at judicial practice.

The Institute for Training Professional Judges, a structural division of Odesa National Academy of Law, trains lawyers specifically for judicial practice.

The Institute for Training Professional Judges was established by the Presidential Decree dated December 27,2001 and the Instructions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the Foundation of the Institute for Training Professional Judges as part of Odessa national Academy of Law, dated May 30, 2002. The Institute was established as a state form of property and was subordinated to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

The establishment of the Institute is aimed at training highly qualified judges to form the judiciary and skills improvement and retraining of mid-career judges. .

The Institute is an educational and research structural unit of ONAL, operating on the basis of the Constitution of Ukraine, the laws of Ukraine on Education, on Judicial System, on the Status of Judges, the Regulations of higher state educational institutions and other effective normative legal acts, as well as the Statute of Odessa National Academy of Law and the Regulations on the Institute for Training Professional Judges, attached to Odessa National Academy of Law.

The main focus in the work of the Institute is training of professional judges on the basis of government order and on the contractual basis. The training is provided for those having higher legal education and three years experience in practicing law and holders of Master’s degree in the field of law .

To reach these objectives the Institute employs highly qualified teaching staff of higher educational institutions, judges and foreign experts. To ensure skills improvement the Institute cooperates with other educational institutions of Ukraine and foreign countries in the field of advanced training of judges, organizes theoretical, methodological and practical conferences, symposiums with the participation of foreign and local specialists, carries out research and expert assessment, provides information and consulting service for justice bodies and judges, introduces modern technologies to assist in the work of justice bodies and judges, elaborates its own programmes to render information and counseling and performs other activities within the frame of the legislation.

The principal strategy of training professional judges consists in providing the theoretical basis for such training conforming to the international standards and norms of judicial training, attainments of Ukrainian and foreign legal and teaching practice with the participation of leading scholars and practitioners in the field of education and human rights protection.

Training of professional judges is performed by means of training specialists in different fields, mainly in economics, public administration, political science, sociology, management, second degree education in the field of law to enable them to administer justice in specialized and administrative courts, granting the Specialist’s Degree and improvement of skills in this field.

Training professional judges should be focused primarily on building-up the system of values and personal determination to abide the norms of law and take practical measures to safeguard law and order and dispense justice. The training is directed at creating the system of knowledge, perceptions, concepts, ideas and patterns, reflecting philosophical and ethical basis for training professional judges. Professional judges are trained within the frame of Master’s programme in the field of law offering practical skills in administrative, educational activity and in academic research. Upon completion of the course of studies the graduates are qualified to work at local courts of general jurisdiction, economic and administrative courts.

Teaching at the Institute is delivered by the professors and lecturers of the leading departments of the Academy. Professional judges, barristers, leading experts in the field of law, professors and lecturers work at the Institute full-time or they are paid by the hour.

The Institute provides training, retraining and advanced training of specialists of the corresponding educational levels on the basis of multi-staged education by the curricula confirmed by the academic board of ONAL, which are worked out according to the normative requirements for the training of the specialists of the corresponding level. The contents, the terms and the forms of studies ( day-time one-year course, extramural – two- year course ) are regulated by ONAL according to the Law.

The Director of the Institute is Candidate of Juridical Science, Associate Professor Oleg Todoshchak. The methodological work and the discipline control are exercised by methodologist O. M. Ivanchenko, curriculum executive K. Zbirnya, senior laboratory assistant O. Lyakhovetska and the secretary A. M. Lysytsya.

The students of the Institute for Professional judges specialize in the following areas of judicial system: courts of general jurisdiction, economic and administrative courts. Such specialization enables future judges to get general training and receive specific professional training which will be helpful in their practical activity.

The number of potential students willing to study at the Institute for Professional Judges is constantly increasing.

The curriculum and the teaching methods are being constantly improved. Today the total number of students of the day-time and extra-mural departments exceeds 350 people.

The lecture rooms of the Institute are equipped with modern technical devices, the interactive boards are installed to ensure better comprehension of theoretical and applied materials. Computerized classes were opened to facilitate the students’ preparation for the seminars.

Every year the Institute organizes theoretical and practical seminars and conferences on the basis of Odesa National Academy of Law with the participation of State Court Administration of Ukraine and Higher Board of Experts as to the Judges’ Qualification, the judges of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine and Higher Economic Court of Ukraine. The judges of Odessa Regional Court of Appeal, Odessa Regional Economic Court, Odessa Economic Court of Appeal, Odessa Appeal Administrative Court also take an active part in these seminars and conferences. The Institute for Training Professional Judges is planning to introduce new disciplines to the curriculum and invite prominent Ukrainian scholars and practitioners to teach them. The Institute will continue the organization of seminars and symposia with the participation of Ukrainian and foreign scholars.

Effective judicial system is one of the essential elements of the rule-of-law state and it is indispensable without due professional training of judges.

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