Reform of the Examination Boards for Admission to the Position of Judge: Goals, Results, Prospects

Introduction: The first stage on the way to a judicial position is passing a qualification exam. For this purpose, examination commissions are formed for the admission of the qualification exam for the position of judge. They became an independent body of the judicial community in 2011, after which the commissions began to include representatives from public associations of lawyers. The deputies believed that this would make the commissions more open to society, improve the quality of justice and reduce corruption. However, the declared goals were not achieved. Proposals have been repeatedly made in the scientific literature to reform the requirements for members of commissions. Such proposals were speculative in nature, as they were not based on empirical evidence.

Methodology and materials: In this article, the scientists’ proposals are compared with data on the composition of the examination commissions of the subjects of the Russian Federation as of 2021. Information on the membership of the commissions was collected on the website of the Higher Examination Commission for the admission of the qualification exam for the position of judge. Additional information about the length of service and place of work was found in open sources.

Research results and their discussion: Some proposals are in isolation from reality and are impossible to implement at the moment. The scientists proposed to establish the numerical composition of the commissions in the number of 13 people, although in reality their average figure is 12 people. There have been proposals to include representatives from all levels of the judicial community in the commissions, although the commissions most often include judges from the regional center (from the regional court of general jurisdiction and from the arbitration court). The closest proposal to implementation is to establish a minimum judicial length of service for inclusion in the commission (10 years), since the average length of service of judges in the commissions is 15 years.

Conclusions: Proposals to reform the examination boards should take into account the existing composition of the commissions.

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