Working with others

Australian judicial educators

The College believes in sharing knowledge. We collaborate with a range of bodies in judicial education and in the broader justice system, as well as with a variety of community and commercial organisations.

The College belongs to the Australian and New Zealand Judicial Educators group, along with the:

• Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration
• Institute of Judicial Studies New Zealand
• Judicial Commission of New South Wales
• National Judicial College of Australia.

The College is particularly grateful to the Director of the Institute of Judicial Studies New Zealand, Mr Richard Moss. He has generously shared his knowledge and experience of judicial education programs in New Zealand. 

Australian Collaborations

In June 2008, the College presented “Pushing the Electronic Envelope: Pioneering Judicial Resources” at the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration’s fourth Law and Technology Conference in Sydney. The presentation showcased our CD training tool “Online Manuals: A Guided Tour”. This tool demonstrates how a judicial officer can use three interrelated College manuals to tackle a sexual offences matter.

In May 2008, the College was pleased to welcome two federal magistrates and a member of the State Administrative Tribunal of Western Australia as guest participants in the College’s inaugural Judicial Dispute Resolution workshop.

In April 2008, the College welcomed the Deputy Chief Magistrate of the Magistrates’ Court of New South Wales as a guest participant in the College’s inaugural Oral Decisions workshop. Ms Ruth Windeler, education director at the Judicial Commission of New South Wales, observed the workshop.

In September 2007, the College compiled a panel of speakers for the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration’s annual conference, “Cultures and the Law”.  Representatives from emerging communities discussed cross-cultural court room experiences in the session “Emerging Communities: Court Users’ Experiences”.

In August 2007, our CEO, Lyn Slade delivered a presentation on the College’s innovative 360 Degree Feedback Survey Program, to judges of the Family Court of Australia at their annual conference in Melbourne.  Information on this project has also been shared with the National Judicial College of Australia and the Judicial Commission of New South Wales.

International Collaborations

In October 2007, the College CEO attended the 3rd International Conference on Training of the Judiciary in Barcelona, Spain. The conference theme — “How to train the trainers” — was underpinned by two sub-themes: judicial ethics and skills-based judicial education. The College formed part of a small contingent of judicial educators from Australia, along with the Federal Court of Australia, the National Judicial College of Australia, the Judicial Commission of New South Wales and the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration.

The CEO gleaned much about international trends and future directions in judicial education. Conference content has since influenced the College’s teaching methods and approach to developing judicial skills. We learned how to engage as well as inform, to apply adult-learning principles, and to adopt multi-faceted, skills-based approaches. The College used intelligence from the conference when we developed our “Judicial Education Policy: Integrating Three Dimensions” and our Continuing Professional Development curriculum.

Following the conference, the CEO travelled to London and met with colleagues from the Judicial Appointments Commission, the Judicial Studies Board of England and Wales, and the Judicial Appraisal Working Party. They shared knowledge and experience about skills-based judicial education, and trends in judicial peer review. Overseas judicial education organistaions showed significant interest in the College’s innovative Court Craft project — especially our 360 degree feedback survey for judicial officers.