Teaching

Initial training

In Bordeaux, some twenty judges and prosecutors on secondment to the School (training coordinators) teach the future judges and prosecutors on the initial training course. They design the course content, assess the trainees, coordinate the teaching, act as directors of studies, run workshops and give lectures. Almost 700 judge/prosecutor associate lecturers and occasional teaching staff also contribute to the training each year.

In-service training

The training coordinators and course leaders design and run 500 continuing education and in-service training actions in conjunction with the session directors. Almost 2,000 judges, prosecutors and other professionals from both the public and private sectors participate in these courses.

The Teaching Commission assists the director in teaching matters. By conveying opinions on different subjects to the board, it contributes to the definition of the main educational orientations, the development and implementation of the initial and in-service training programmes and the assessment of the teaching. The provisions of the School's rules on the educational regime and the conditions of trainee assessment are also drawn up after consideration of the opinion of the Teaching Commission.

The School is organised into eight training departments, covering both initial training and continuing education, in order to facilitate the acquisition and improvement of the basic skills of the judge and prosecutor. The broad guidelines and educational aims of each of the eight training units are decided by the ENM's board and implemented by the teaching dean and the academic team. Two permanent ENM coordinators, one for initial training and one for in-service training, organise the activities of each department and ensure the teaching is consistent. They rely on the training coordinators working on different topics or functions to prepare the course content.

The ENM's eight training departments and their deans:

• Judicial Humanities – Nicole Maestracci, member of the Constitutional Council
• Decision-Making Processes and Formalisation in Civil Justice – Alain Lacabarats, President of a Division of the Court of Cassation and member of the High Council for the Judiciary (CSM)
• Decision-Making Processes and Formalisation in Criminal Justice – Laure Beccuau, Public Prosecutor at Créteil Regional Court
• Judicial Communication - Jacques Dallest, Chief Prosecutor at the Court of Appeal of Grenoble
• Administration of Justice - Gracieuse Lacoste, Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal of Bordeaux
• International Dimension of Justice - André Potocki, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights
• The Judicial Environment – Benoit Bastard, sociologist, Emeritus Research Director at the CNRS
• Economic, Social and Environmental Department - Stéphanie Fougou, former President of the French Association of Company Lawyers.

The job of a judge or prosecutor involves decision-making that requires not only technical knowledge and skills, but also an essential ability to grasp the human consequences of their decisions. The teaching aims to enable trainees to acquire the skills common to all posts that a judge or prosecutor may occupy, in addition to learning the techniques of the different jobs (investigating, juvenile judge, prosecutor, etc.). Thirteen basic skills required by judges and prosecutors have therefore been defined, taking account of the different posts they may occupy and the environments and human situations they may be confronted with. They form a package of competencies that enable the targeting of the recruitment of future judges and prosecutors and the adaptation of the initial and in-service training required to facilitate their professional development.

The thirteen basic skills required by judges and prosecutor:

• identify, adopt and put into practice the rules of professional ethics
• analyse and synthesise a situation or a case
• identify, follow and guarantee a procedural framework
• adapt
• adopt a position of authority or humility according to circumstances
• know how to manage relations, listen to and exchange with others
• prepare and conduct a hearing or judicial interview ensuring that both sides are heard
• seek agreement and reconcile
• take decisions that are well-founded in law and fact, that take into account the relevant context, are based on common sense and applicable in practice
• justify, formalise and explain decisions
• take account of the national and international institutional environment
• work in a team
• organise, manage and innovate