VIII. Improving Professionalism of Court Personnel

The SPC has pursuant to the unified deployment of the country, cooperated with related departments of the Central Government, to reform the selection and appointment system of judges, to improve the classification management system of court personnel, to promote the establishment of separate post order and supporting remuneration system for judges, and to enhance professional sense of honor and mission of judges.

To reform the selection and appointment system of judges. The pilot areas will set up judges selection committees consisting of judge representatives and other social members at provincial level. Open, fair and impartial procedures of selection and appointment will be formulated in order to ensure only those excellent legal talents with good personal integrity, abundant experience and high professional expertise become judge candidates. In January 2015, Shanghai has initiated the selection and appointment work of judges with quota restriction. There are nine selection and appointment steps, namely, application and signing up, undertakings of posts, qualifications review, performance assessment, quota examination, adjudication committee interview, selection committee presentation and defense, party group check, appointment and removal by grades. After eight months’ selection based on merits, the first batch of 2,296 judges has become quota judges in all courts across Shanghai, accounting for 25.5% of the total authorized strength of courts. Up to December 31, 2015, Hainan, Qinghai, Jilin and Hubei have also successively completed the selection of quotas judges.

To improve the system of selecting judges level by level. The SPC has studied and formulated the reform scheme of selection of judges level by level and takes the lead of openly selecting judicial officers from the judges of inferior people’s courts. In October 2015, the SPC has selected 7 excellent judges from 62 applicants of local courts across China through strict selection procedures.

To build the recruit system of judges from qualified attorneys and law experts. In March 2014, the SPC has an open selection of high-level adjudication talents from law experts and scholars, attorneys, personnel practicing law in other institutions and has selected 5 out of 195 applicants (76 experts and scholars, 75 attorneys, 44 Party and government officers), based on merits, including experts and scholars, senior attorneys and excellent procurators. In 2015, Shanghai courts has selected and appointed 1 judge from social recruitment and Qinghai courts has selected and appointed 3 judges from social recruitment.

To push forward the scientific classification of court personnel. In order to optimize the human resources allocation of courts, Chinese courts categorize court personnel into judges, trial support personnel and judicial administration personnel and implement different management system over different category, so that each person has its own place and duties. The burdens of judges in terms of transactional and procedural works have been practically alleviated by means of improving the management systems of the trial support personnel such as judge assistants, court clerks, executors and judicial policemen and deciding the proportion between judges and trial support personnel in a scientific way. The SPC coordinates with relevant departments of the of the Central Government formulating the pilot plan for the post order reform of judge assistants and court clerks, improving the recruitment measures of judge assistants. All local courts have been broadening the sources of trial support personnel and exploring the optimization of trial support personnel structure via purchase of social services. Jiangsu High People's Court has been making efforts to advance the court clerk system reform. It has formulated the which define the position, quotas and responsibilities of court clerks. The proportion between frontline judges and court clerks reaches 1:1.1, which changes the former situation that one court clerk serve several judges and greatly alleviates the conflicts between hands and cases. Guangdong Province has promulgated the administration measures on judicial support personnel with labor contract. Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court has added 143 judge assistants, 60 executor assistants and 120 court clerks for the Court through proactive efforts, which makes the proportion between judges and judge assistants and court clerks become 1:0.8:0.7. It has formulated a “three levels and nine grades” position management system. That is, the judge assistants and court clerks will be divided into three levels, senior, intermediate and junior with each level subdividing into three grades. Each grade has its corresponding remuneration package.

To establish the quota system for judges. Pilot areas take into account the economic and social development, population, quantity of cases, types of cases and other basic data within their jurisdiction as well as the level of trial, functions, workload of judges, allocation of trial support personnel and case-handling supporting conditions to determine the judge quotas for the courts of three levels in a scientific way. Such judge quotas shall be adjusted dynamically according to the case quantity and change of personnel structure. Guizhou courts have taken the reform on the adjudication organization structure as a starting point to determine a dynamic judges quotas by adopting the method of quotas dependent upon cases, which has realized more than 85% human resources joining the frontline of adjudication.

Upon trial implementation of quota judge system by courts in Shanghai, the number of front-line case-handling personnel increases by 18.5%. Based on the main indicator of case numbers, Guangdong approves the judge quotas of areas with “few cases and many personnel” such as Shantou to be 20.8% and the judges quotas of Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other 3 cities to be 46%.

To improve the separate post order and salary system for judges. The SPC has studied and formulated the and the in cooperation with other departments of the Central Government. Such pilot plans, relying on the judge grading system of “four levels and twelve grades” established by the and based on the quota judge system, have unhooked the grades of judges from the administrative ranks, fully reflected the professional traits of judges in terms of grades setting, promotion method, promotion period, percentage of selection for promotion, assessment and discipline and salaries system, and distinguished the personnel management system of judges from other civil servants. The pilot plans adopt a method of promotion upon certain period in combination of selection for promotion based on merits and special selection for promotion. Judges of the people’s courts at various levels might be promoted to certain grades according to their tenures even if they do not hold leadership positions as long as they exercise their duties seriously, without limitation on the number of posts. For promotion of relatively higher grades of judges, there is percentage or number control. For outstanding judges or as specially required by work, it is possible to make exceptional promotion or promotion over one grade. The pilot plans have established a separate salaries system for judges according to the professional characteristics of judges, which increase the salary level of judges by a relatively large percentage.

To build law research scholars and legal interns system. For the purpose of further strengthening the judicial cooperation and communications between the people’s courts and law schools and law scientific research institutions, and promoting the perfection of the training mechanism of legal professionals, the SPC has built up a law research scholars system and a legal interns system. 10 law research scholars and 50 legal interns have been admitted by the SPC from the candidates recommended by more than 40 law institutions of higher education and scientific research institutions. Under such system, the legal interns participate in recording cases, drafting documentations, doing special research and other trial supporting work under the guidance of judges as intern judge assistants or court clerks, which is conducive to exploring new model of category administration reform of court personnel.

To strictly regulate the conducts of court personnel outside their duties. The SPC together with relevant departments of the Central Government has published guidelines which prohibit six kinds of contact and communication of court personnel with case parties, attorneys, special privies, intermediary organizations and require the judicial personnel to welcome case parties, attorneys, special privies and intermediary organizations in working place and working hours during the period when he or she is handling cases. Judicial personnel, after he or she leaves his/her post in the judicial organ, may not act as litigation agent or defender of the cases handled by the original judicial organ. Those judicial personnel who are removed from his/her official post due to breach of laws or disciplines shall be banned from practicing law for his/her entire life.