My Views on Attorneys Transitioning to Judges

What are the origins and training processes for judges? Currently, the primary source of judges in Taiwan is the annual judicial officers examination. While this exam seemingly maintains fairness, it limits the opportunities for many outstanding legal professionals to serve as judges. In particular, the vast majority of test-takers are law graduates fresh out of school without rich life experience. Once they pass the exam and undergo a year and a half of training, they immediately don robes and take charge of adjudication, leading to frequent questioning of their rulings. Although the Judicial Yuan has promulgated measures for attorneys to transition into judges, the requirements for transition, post-transition training, and status issues have resulted in few applicants, and more senior attorneys show little interest in becoming judges. This completely deviates from the original intent of diversifying the sources of judges and encouraging outstanding attorneys to transition into the judiciary.

Judges are charged with adjudication, handling not merely legal disputes, but complex social and interpersonal relations. Without a deep understanding of various aspects of society, how can one judge right and wrong and render rulings that convince the public? Therefore, advanced countries in Europe, America, and Japan require candidates for judgeships to possess a certain level of experience—such as being selected from senior and outstanding judicial assistants, prosecutors, and attorneys, or subjecting those who pass exams to long-term training and study so they can assume adjudicative work only after their experience and knowledge have matured. Because this serves as professional recognition for the qualified candidates, it is regarded as the highest honor and commands the utmost respect from society, and those serving as judges approach their work with extreme diligence. In contrast, in our country, after passing the judicial officers examination and completing a year and a half of training, individuals as young as twenty-four or twenty-five can sit on the judicial bench; the "rejuvenation" of district courts can be described as a spectacle. Although they may learn through work, this makes the public their test subjects, disregarding their rights and interests. In actual adjudication, it is common to see the coldness of rigid legalism devoid of humanity, which is no wonder people feel alienated from the law.

To enable senior and outstanding legal professionals to undertake adjudicative work, the image and status of judges must first be elevated. If a judgeship represents professional recognition and honor for a legal professional, allowing the selected individuals to gain social esteem and even become the career goal of legal professionals, then it is believed that most legal professionals will be encouraged by this recognition and honor to strive for excellence in their work as attorneys, prosecutors, or other legal roles so that they may one day have the privilege of advancing to judicial office. Secondly, remuneration and the working environment must meet the needs and status of judicial work. Selected outstanding legal professionals, due to their long-term outstanding performance in their original work, generally have a certain economic foundation, so compensation may not be their primary incentive for transitioning; however, if it is insufficient to maintain a certain standard of living, it will reduce their willingness to transition. Regarding the working environment, judges should be given sufficient time and mental bandwidth to ponder cases, other administrative chores should be minimized, courtroom and office layouts should allow judges greater freedom of use, and there should be certain limits on caseloads.

Under the Judicial Yuan's current measures, attorneys with three years of practice who apply for a transition must undergo training together with those who passed the examination, are assigned based on the same qualifications after training, and may only serve as probationary and then tenured judges after the candidate period expires. Those with six years of practice must undergo practical training and serve as candidate and probationary judges before they can become tenured judges. Those with one year of practice must undergo short-term practical training and first serve as probationary judges. Such a design genuinely lacks attraction for current attorneys and is insufficient to make attorney transitions a primary source of judges. Furthermore, whether three years of practice as an attorney provides sufficient academic cultivation and life experience to be convincing is highly questionable, and their shorter practicing time is less sufficient to prove their professional ability and reputation; therefore, the qualification requirements for transition should be raised. The transition of attorneys to judges should be the main pipeline for the source of judges, and thus there ought to be a comprehensive plan for the sources of judges rather than treating it as a supplementary pipeline. The Judicial Yuan's stopgap mindset, adopted due to an insufficient number of judges, not only lacks long-term planning but also fails to give due respect to senior, outstanding attorneys, let alone treating the transition to judgeship as an acknowledgment of outstanding legal professionals; it is foreseeable that its effect will not be substantial.

In the draft Judges Act proposed by the Judicial Reform Foundation, the current practice where individuals can assume judicial office immediately upon passing the judicial officers exam and completing training is eliminated, shifting the primary sources of judges to attorneys, prosecutors, and judicial assistants. This ensures that future judges possess more comprehensive legal and social experience prior to taking office, have higher social awareness, affirm their professional competence through a selection process, and elevate the status of judges and social respect, thereby increasing public trust in the judiciary. This should be a long-term viable strategy.