미국연방지방법원 부판사제를 활용한 우리 법관임용시스템의 개선방안

A study on magistrate judge selection system in reference to Korea and U.S. Federal District Court

When the Korea law school system was introduced in 2008, the Supreme Court of Korea had a plan to new judge appointing systems. The plan is now expected to shake the foundation of the national judiciary system，in which top scorers of the examination have managed to earn the appointment right after they have completed their two­year mandatory educational program at the Judicial Research and Training Institute. According to the reform plan submitted to parliament， those with more than three years of experience as prosecutor， lawyer， law professor or others will be able to be hired as a judge in 2013. The career qualification will be tightened to more than five years at such jobs from 2018 to 2019 and more than seven years of experience could be hired judges from 2020 to 2021. From 2022，only those with more than 10 years of field experiences will be hired as judge. Apart from prerequisites of these field experiences, I would rather try to investigate how to recruit new judges actually and what process is exactly needed. That s because longer years of field experience does not guarantee good judges. For this background, I am trying to investigate U.S. Federal magistrate judge s selection and evaluation system and try to apply the system into Korea judge appointing system. A magistrate judge s appointment is subject to a budget of Korea supreme court by the legislature s allowances. The vacancy is advertised that all the lawyers in the area of the court could have the opportunity to apply for the position. A news release is made to newspapers and broadcasting media in the district. After applications are received, magistrates selection panels determine the competence and experience qualifications which are the most important in selecting a magistrate judge. Standard form of questionnaires are distributed to each lawyer in the area, trying to assess applicant s qualifications. Prior to interviewing any applicants, background checks are made by the court and the results communicated to the court administrator who distributes the information to magistrate panels. Magistrates panels adopt are subject to standards of fairness, equal opportunity, and merit selection. The panel decides the method of voting in advance. The panel interview questions and each applicant should be asked questions so that the magistrate panel could compare the applicant s qualifications. Results of the appraisals are communicated by the magistrate panel through the court administrator to the individual judge. Results of the judicial appraisal remain absolutely confidential. This kind of magistrate judge selection system could also appropriate to get rid of the lawyer s privilege of his/her former judge post and to lower the barrier of justice for the common people.