First Appointment of a Presiding Judge as an Associate Research Judge in the Judicial Research Office

“Increasing opportunities to work on cases at the court of final appeal”

For the first time in history, a presiding judge of a district court has been transferred to serve as an associate research judge in the Supreme Court’s Judicial Research Office, in one of the joint panels. The move is intended to make the timing of research judge assignments more flexible and to increase opportunities for judges to work on cases at the court of final appeal.

Three presiding judges of district courts

Assigned as associate research judges in joint panels

According to coverage by The Law Times, as part of the regular personnel appointments for 2026, three presiding judges of district courts have been appointed as associate research judges in the joint panels of the Judicial Research Office. Presiding judges have typically been appointed either as senior research judges (first row) in charge of exclusive panels that review and study the legal principles of cases allotted to a specific Supreme Court justice, or as chief research judges of joint panels or heads of new-case panels who are not attached to any particular justice.

In the past, there have been a number of cases in which a district court judge served as a research judge, worked as an associate research judge in a joint panel, and was later promoted to presiding judge of a district court. However, there had been no instance in which a presiding judge was appointed as a research judge and then served as an associate research judge in a joint panel.

The Supreme Court explains that it has expanded the appointment of presiding judges of district courts as research judges in order to make the timing of research judge assignments more flexible and to give more judges the opportunity to work at the court of final appeal.

An official of the Supreme Court said, “We aimed to enhance work capabilities by assigning presiding judges of district courts, who have extensive trial experience and expertise in specific fields, to the joint panels.”

Five high court judges transferred as research judges

In the 2026 regular personnel appointments, High Court Judge Lee Hyejin (33rd class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute) and High Court Judge Yoon Kwonwon (36th class) were transferred to serve as research judges at the Supreme Court. Both are reported to have been appointed as senior-level research judges at the Supreme Court.

In 2023, the Supreme Court for the first time transferred high court judges to serve as research judges. In 2023, Seoul High Court Judge Lee Byunghee (31st class) was transferred as a research judge, as was Seoul High Court Judge Nam Woohyun (35th class). In 2025, Seoul High Court Judges Kang Kyungpyo (31st class), Baek Sukjong (34th class), and Choi Moonsu (36th class) were transferred as research judges at the Supreme Court. With High Court Judge Kang Kyungpyo returning to a trial division at the Seoul High Court in this year’s appointments, the total number of research judges who are high court judges stands at five.

Meanwhile, in these appointments, judges who entered the judiciary through the Bar Examination (first Bar Exam) have, for the first time, been appointed as research judges at the Supreme Court, opening what is being called the “Bar Exam research judge era.”

Reporter Park Suyeon, The Law Times

※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.