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Tatiana FULEY,

Head of the Department of the National School of Judges of Ukraine, Candidate of Law, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECTHR CASE LAW INTO JUDICIAL TRAINING: METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES

The article is focused on the innovative methodological approaches applied by the National School of Judges of Ukraine (NSJU) in designing and delivering courses for judges on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and ECtHR case law.

Not only knowing the standards developed by the ECtHR, but also understanding the training process used for elaborating skills for applying them in daily judicial practice while hearing cases is crucial in implementation of the ECtHR jurisprudence at national level. Therefore the courses on ECHR are designing and delivering by the NSJU in the form of interactive trainings aimed at developing of the judicial skills. Unlike lecture-based seminars or other conventional forms of education trainings, interactive form of training is the most effective way for obtaining new skills and developing existing ones especially for adult and highly professional trainees such as sitting judges. Hence, designing trainings on different topics on ECHR and ECtHR case law is the permanent priority of the NSJU.

NSJU have recently designed four courses for judges on ECHR and ECtHR case law. Among them are two so called “basic” courses (one for judges of general jurisdiction courts and another one for administrative jurisdiction) and two are so called “specialized” courses on protection of property rights in the light of the First Protocol to the Convention and on right to respect of private and family life according to Art. 8 of the ECHR. There are several main features essential for the efficiency of these trainings.

Firstly, the author highlighted the importance of the preliminary studying of the chosen ECtHR judgments carefully selected based on learning objectives of each course. This is a new requirement for the future participants of each training event which resulted in better understanding of the structure of ECtHR judgment, the content of each elements such as the circumstances of case, relevant domestic law and practice, alleged violation of article of the Convention – admissibility, merits, the Court’s well-established case law and assessment in the given case etc. Equally, such preparation is invaluable for matching all the elements of the course together with the help of interactive methodology (pre-testing (based on abovementioned chosen judgments using “clicker” technologies at the beginning of training, mini-lectures highlighted the concept laid down in these judgments, small group discussions with the possibility to apply new concepts to the given facts, final testing etc).

Secondly, the author stressed that all courses are interconnected, and participation in the specialized trainings is recommended only after passing the basic courses.

Thirdly, all courses have been designed in accordance with the NSJU standards as for agendas, training materials (in two version – for trainees and trainers/facilitators, the later includes the trainers notes and tips, both on subject matter and methodology) and delivery and organization of training event which enhance the quality of the judicial training on the relevant topic.

Key words: judicial education, ECtHR case law, training, methodology of training, interactive learning methodology.

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