NEWS

Welcome to our first Bulletin of 2025. I extend my sincere congratulations to the newly elected and returning members of the Board of Governors, as highlighted by Mary McQueen in her update. I trust that you will find your work with IOJT to be as rewarding as I have experienced.

My first IOJT conference was in Ottawa in 2002, and I've attended every conference since — as a judge, judicial educator, and finally Chief Judicial Officer of the National Judicial Institute of Canada. These conferences remain a highlight of my career.

For those who attended the South Korea conference, remember your two tasks: make a new judicial education friend and identify something innovative from the sessions. Have you contacted your new friend? If not, send an email. Have you tried anything new you learned? How did it go? I'd love to hear about it and possibly feature it in the Bulletin.

At the November conference, we organized 5 workshops aimed at engaging participants and identifying useful tools or resources for IOJT members and judicial educators. The topics were:

• The Principles of Judicial Education (led by Leonel Gonzalez and Paul Quan)
• Judicial Ethics (led by Raf Van Ransbeek and Eileen Kato)
• Artificial Intelligence (led by Haffide Boulakras and John Meeks)
• The Encyclopedia (led by Raf Van Ransbeek)
• Strengthening Judicial Training Institutes (led by Danielle May-Cuconato, Janine McIntosh, and Adèle Kent).

Each Bulletin will detail a specific topic. This issue features Raf Van Ransbeek's article on the Encyclopedia. We are also updating our website with this information.

Additionally, we will hold a Zoom orientation for Regional Vice-Presidents to discuss organizing regional digital meetings. Stay tuned!

Finally, IOJT provided scholarships to judicial educators. We asked each scholarship recipient to provide a report about their experiences at the conferences. In the next few editions of the Bulletin, we will summarize those reports, and the full reports will be posted on the website.

In Seoul, five workshops were held focusing on Judicial Ethics, The Principles of Judicial Education, Artificial Intelligence, the Encyclopedia, and Strengthening Judicial Training Institutes. 

During the workshops, participants developed a plan to address issues related to their respective topics in preparation for the next conference in Bordeaux in 2026. 

This bulletin will report on the progress of The Encyclopedia (see below). Future editions will feature updates from other working groups. For instance, the Institutional Strengthening subgroup establishing a community of practice for institute leaders has already conducted its first meeting. Further details will be provided in the next edition.

The IOJT Community of Practice on Strengthening Judicial Institutes held its first meeting in February to discuss establishing objectives for the next conference in 2026. These objectives will be presented to the Board of Executives during their meeting in June this year. The group aims to begin its work to share insights and increase participation at the 2026 conference.

Mary reported that we had 12 scholarship participants at our Seoul conference. Their attendance contributed to the event's success. Each participant was asked to report on their experience, providing invaluable insights.

We will publish these reports on the IOJT website and will inform you when they are available. Meanwhile, we will share highlights in these Bulletins.

This edition features Dr. Gomolemo Moshoeu's report from South Africa. Here are the lessons learned from her perspective, with thanks to Dr. G.

RESEARCH

• Establishment of voluntary research organization of Judges. It is imperative to involve judges in research activities as critical role players.
• A need to conduct large scale survey on sexual harassment within the judiciary. Although sexual harassment is a divisive and sensitive topic, it also requires serious attention.
• The necessity of conducting research on how algorithmic results influenced judicial decisions in Civil and Criminal cases.

TRAINING

• Judges to attend gender sensitivity training every five years. This highlights the importance of continuous training on soft skills.
• JTIs should shift from academic to skills-based training to enhance court performance.
• There is a need to conduct continuing training on Diversity and inclusion.
• JTIs should include the understanding of different circumstances of court users in the training programmes.
• Develop appropriate method of training on divisive topics such as racism, election litigation, transgender litigants, abortion, etc.

WELLNESS

• JTIs need to determine how to promote Judicial Wellness as it affects decision making, professional and personal relationships.
• Develop Judicial Wellness programmes for Judges focusing on specific offences, for example on Family matters. An example was shared of a Judge who committed suicide and the other one collapsed due to fatigue. JTIs should promote the physical health of Judges. Korean Association of Women Judges established a project focusing on work-life balance.
• Promote peer dialogue and build personal resilience.
• There is a need for JTIs to enhance the understanding of digital sexual crimes through training.
• JTIs to take cue from wellness programmes of the medical practitioners, they create learning communities.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

• There is a need for a policy on the use of AI in the judiciary as well as training.
• JTIs should consider developing and/or expanding AI training programmes, whichever is applicable.
• There is a need to develop strategies to strengthen capacities of judiciaries on AI, freedom of expression and rule of law.
• JTIs to consider facilitating the development of a mentoring guide for the judiciary.
• Members of the judiciary should have access to up-to-date information on AI.

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

• During the Curriculum development process, utilize experts for research and writing purposes but faculty who are Judicial officers should oversee the process.
• Promote draft training materials through seminars, consultative meeting before approval by the appropriate Committee.
• The entire curriculum should instill justice.

TIPS FOR TRAINING

The following are useful tips for training to be considered by the Facilitators/Trainers:

• Lay a foundation, explain why you are offering the training on the identified topic.
• Develop course objectives.
• Select presenters carefully. Consider educational background, professional expertise, facilitation experience and vet for partisanship.
• Develop the program plan. Introduce ice breakers, integrate field trips and/or lived experience in the training program to open the minds of the participants.
• Prepare presenters for disagreement. When dealing with divisive topics, acknowledge up front that the session will spark strong feelings. Set rules about respect.
• Attend to psycho geography or physical setting. Set up a suitable venue, schedule breaks to take care of the wellbeing of the participants.
• Establish relevance of the training and identify practical takeaways.
• Evaluate feedback from the participants and act accordingly.
• Update training materials in response to feedback, do not give up.        

CHALLENGES OF EDUCATORS

From the deliberations, it became apparent that Judicial Educators face various challenges during the delivery of the training, as listed below:

• Balancing open dialogue.
• Respect for diverse perspectives.
• Balancing sensitivity of the subject and critical discourse.
• Maintaining constructive and inclusive learning environment.
• Avoiding information overload.                      

CHALLENGES OF JUDICIAL TRAINING INSTITUTIONS

• It was apparent from the discussions that JTIs face similar challenges around the world.
• Generational gap of the judiciary: unfamiliarity with latest digital trends requiring continuous computer literacy training.
• Balancing the rights of individuals with need for digital evidence.
• Support for training by Judicial leaders and senior members of the judiciary is not adequate.
• Budgetary constraints.

OTHER

Participants shared valuable insights as listed below:

• It is important for Judges to recalibrate themselves, refresh, rest, and self-reflect to avoid burnout.
• Judges need to implement coping strategies such as meditation, self-care, practice gratitude and compassion, acknowledge negative emotions and describe them in granular details and maintain reliable networks of honest and supportive colleagues.
• The use of Mentimeter programme as an interactive tool during the presentations was very impressive.
• Jurisdictions should consider developing their own ChatGPT rather than using the commercial one for data protection. There is a need to use closed data sets.    

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The information provided in this report demonstrates the immense value of the IOJT conference. It is imperative for Heads of JTIs as well as Faculty.