The Court Clerk to Share Civil Enforcement Duties...Expectations for 'Reducing Trial Delays'

Revision of Rules to Establish Concurrent Appointment Regulation for Judicial Assistants
Concurrent Appointment to Be Implemented Starting from July 1 Personnel Changes

The Supreme Court has amended related regulations to allow certain qualified court clerks at various levels, who are in charge of judicial administrative tasks, to concurrently serve as judicial assistants responsible for civil enforcement duties.

The Supreme Court plans to implement the concurrent appointment of court clerks as judicial assistants starting from the regular personnel reshuffle on July 1. This is expected to contribute to the realization of swift trials amid the continuous increase in the workload of judicial assistants handling civil enforcement cases.

Supreme Court, Seocho-dong, Seoul.

On the 15th, the Supreme Court held a meeting of the Justices and announced the adoption of the "Amendment to the Judicial Assistant Regulations," which newly establishes the basis for concurrent appointments.

The newly established Article 34 (Concurrent Appointment) Paragraph 4 of the Judicial Assistant Regulations states, "The appointing authority may, when deemed necessary for personnel management, allow a judicial assistant to concurrently serve among affiliated public officials who have completed judicial assistant training or have experience working as judicial assistants."

Accordingly, the Supreme Court plans to concurrently appoint those among the court clerks at various levels who have completed judicial assistant training or have experience as judicial assistants as judicial assistants during the regular personnel reshuffle on July 1.

Judicial assistants handle matters related to civil enforcement procedures such as real estate auctions, dunning procedures, limited approval or renunciation of inheritance, and consensual divorce procedures between parties without minor children at courts of various levels.

The judicial assistant system has been in place since 2005 to promote thorough substantive case hearings by judges and to enhance direct judicial services to the public through strengthened professional expertise.

Currently, a total of 195 public officials nationwide are appointed as judicial assistants, including 1 at grade 2, 7 at grade 3, and 187 at grade 4, all general court officials.

Meanwhile, the workload of judicial assistants has been steadily increasing. In particular, civil enforcement cases have surged due to the prolonged high-interest economic situation and incidents such as the jeonse fraud cases at the end of 2022. Recently, there was also the unfortunate occurrence of two judicial assistants becoming incapacitated.

According to the Court Administration Office, civil enforcement cases increased significantly from 77,459 in 2022 to 101,147 last year. The number of cases received up to March this year was 29,904, a 29% increase compared to the same period last year.

In the case of leasehold registration cases, the numbers surged from 12,297 in 2021 and 18,717 in 2022 to 60,031 last year. Furthermore, the number of cases received up to March this year was 18,790, showing a 56% increase compared to the same period last year.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court newly established the regulatory basis allowing court clerks to concurrently serve as judicial assistants to realize swift trials in judicial work handled by judicial assistants.

The Supreme Court stated, "Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae mentioned in his inaugural speech that the help of all court members is necessary to unravel the issue of trial delays, and since then, heads of courts at various levels have been directly conducting trials. This amendment to the Judicial Assistant Regulations is an example showing the court members united in their efforts for swift trials, and it is expected to contribute to realizing swift trials in judicial work handled by judicial assistants."