Villu Kõve
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
Dear reader,
For several years, I have drawn attention to the extensive generational change within the judiciary and the challenges it poses to the judicial system. It must be admitted that the past year was no exception here, as 18 new judges joined the judicial system. To date, more than a fifth of the judges in office have started working in the last four years. The renewal of the judiciary also continues at a rapid pace. In ensuring that there will be a next generation of judges and finding a qualified workforce, we, the judiciary, have found ourselves increasingly reflecting on the nature of the court as an employer and, more broadly, on whether the judicial system and proceedings are efficient and optimal enough to meet society’s expectations.
Motivated by the desire to take the judicial system to a new level, and taking advantage of the favourable situation in which a debate has arisen on the possibility of changing the current model of court administration and drawing up a new development plan of the courts, several working groups were formed in 2023 to develop a vision for the future. You might even say that last year was the year of working groups as there were countless meetings to look at all aspects of the judicial system. But the work is far from over – we will be able to make the first interim reviews this year. In addition to reviewing the model of court administration, ideas on the organisation of the administration of justice, digitalisation of courts, governance, human resources policy and communication are collected. The goal is to write down the objectives we could achieve in the judicial system by 2030, and start working towards them.
Therefore, it is only logical that discussions that are so important for the judicial system also find their place in the digital pages of this yearbook. I am pleased that Uno Lõhmus, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, has described, in his article, the story of the development of the current model of court administration and the reforms that have been implemented or attempted to be implemented in the judicial system in the newly independent Estonia. This will be followed by the article ‘15 years later: another attempt to change the administration of courts’ by Heiki Loot, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and head of the working group on the model of court administration, and Mait Laaring, Adviser to the Constitutional Review Chamber, which gives an overview of the starting points of the development of the new court administration model and its structure. Kaidi Lippus, who headed the Courts Division of the Ministry of Justice for a long time, explains to the reader where the development plan of the courts is situated in the system of national strategies and how important it is for the judicial system. Looking to the future, we cannot overlook artificial intelligence – Toomas Vaher, Attorney-at-Law and Member of the Council for Administration of Courts, presents his idea of its implementation in courts.
In this year’s publication, Supreme Court Justices Nele Parrest and Vahur-Peeter Lin interviewed Emeritus Judge Tambet Tampuu, who shares his thoughts on the office of judges with readers. The work organisation of the Translation Service and the role and duties of the head of training will also be introduced. As has become tradition, there will also be a summary of the busy year of the Consultative Council of European Judges, the Estonian Association of Judges, the Judge Examination Committee, the Council for Administration of Courts, the Ethics Council, and the Disciplinary Chamber as well as an overview of the training of judges.
I am very grateful to the authors and the editorial team for their contribution to the yearbook. All the best and bonne lecture!