Presentation

Organised by - the Portuguese Judges Trade Union Association (ASJP) and the Centre for Social Studies at Coimbra University/Permanent Observatory for Portuguese Justice (CES/OPJ)

Coordinated by:
- José Mouraz Lopes, Luís Azevedo Mendes, Nuno Coelho - ASJP
- Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Casimiro Ferreira e Conceição Gomes - CES/OPJ

Presentation
The manifold transformations within the State and society have triggered far-reaching changes both in the sociological aspects of law court performance and in the social context of justice. The emergence or heightened visibility of certain types of criminality, the media-isation of the justice process, the globalisation of the law, the worsening of social inequality, the emergence of new public risks in several areas and the demands of the economy on the admistering of justice are some of the changes which pose major challenges to the justice system and its agents. This new context, and the growing social and political visibility of the legal system and the primacy of the law, both considered as being basic pillars of the democratic State, tend to trigger successive processes of reform, whereby both legal professionals and other professionals, who often have dealings with this sector, are confronted with the need to stay abreast of this entire movement towards change.
The proposed advanced training programmes make it possible not just to enable the technical qualification of trainees, but also the development of good practice and the best standards and procedures. This makes a decisive contribution to the modernisation, efficiency and efficacy of the performance of the judical system viewed from a global perspective and to improved articulation of judicial institutions, both internally as also with other State instituions and civil society.
The goal is to build up the programmes as a locus for advanced, continuous and interdisciplinary training, centred around the areas of competence and the needs of the participating professionals, as well as exploring the different thematic fields which challenge the judicial sciences, judicial culture and the performance of courts of law in Portuguese society. To this end, priority is given to a practical approach to the training themes selected, bringing trainees face to face with the most controversial cases and endowing them with reflexive instruments which will empower a critical and sustained interpretation of solutions and dilemmas, whether theoretical or operational, raised in the training context.
Limiting registration to a maximum 40 trainees is an endeavour to centre training on participants and on a debate of the issues put forward in the training providers’ initial presentation (the seminar/round-table debate model).
In addition, an entire debate Forum will be set up, devised to keep all the participants in online contact, with a view to offering a locus for debate on relevant ideas, experiences, readings and information, which will prolong training interaction beyond the confines of the seminar/round-table debate.