The dedicated judge system, which selects legal professionals with over 20 years of experience as judges to handle specific trials, will be expanded from civil single-judge cases to criminal single-judge cases.
On the 19th, the Supreme Court announced the 2025 dedicated judge appointment plan based on this content.
Criminal single-judge dedicated judges will handle criminal single-judge cases throughout their tenure as judges. Initially, they will be responsible for cases that were summarily prosecuted with fines but have requested a formal trial. After a certain period of service, depending on their preference or the composition of the trial panel at the assigned court, they will also handle general criminal single-judge cases.
Applications for dedicated judge candidates will be accepted from the 2nd to the 20th of next month.
Afterward, the Judicial Personnel Committee will conduct document screening (late October), personality tests, essay writing and personality competency evaluation interviews (mid-November), and final interviews (late November), followed by the final review by the Judicial Personnel Committee (early December), when the list of appointees is expected to be announced.
The selected dedicated judges will be appointed in January next year after the Supreme Court judges' meeting consents to their appointment.
The dedicated judge system was introduced in 2012 to appoint experienced and seasoned legal professionals as judges to enhance trust in trials and to promote the stable establishment of the unified legal profession system.
The Judicial Personnel System Improvement Committee proposed the introduction of the 'dedicated judge system' in May 2012, recommending the appointment of judges who exclusively handle specific trials during their term from among legal professionals with private-sector experience, aiming to enhance public trust in trials, stabilize the unified legal profession system, and activate the appointment of legal professionals as judges.
The Supreme Court accepted this recommendation and conducted the first dedicated judge appointment process in the second half of 2012, appointing three new dedicated judges in February 2013. In the early years of the system, 2013 and 2014, only civil small-claims dedicated judges were appointed, but due to positive evaluations inside and outside the court, the selection scope was expanded to cover all civil single-judge cases from 2015. From 2013 to 2024, a total of 29 dedicated judges have been appointed.
The eligibility requirement was initially 15 years of legal experience, but as the minimum legal experience required for judge appointments increased from 3 years to 5 years, the requirement was raised to 20 years of legal experience starting in 2019.
The Supreme Court stated, "We expect that excellent legal professionals with rich experience in both civil and criminal fields will be appointed as dedicated judges and will realize faithful trials that meet the public's expectations in cases closely related to the daily lives of the people."
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