News

On 19-20^th October, 2023, a traditional meeting of the Supreme Courts of the Baltics - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - took place in Riga, which, as always, became a platform to take a deeper look at the common current affairs of the activities of these courts, introduce good practices, and discuss unsuccessful initiatives.

This year, the topic of discussion was "Effective Supreme Court: Methods for measuring and improving efficiency". In the working session, national reports, speeches and comments were heard, including members of the delegation of the Supreme Court of Lithuania: President of the Court Danguolė Bublienė, Chairwoman of the Criminal Cases Department Gabrielė Juodkaitė-Granskienė, Chairman of the Civil Cases Department Artūras Driukas and judge of the Criminal Cases Department Sigita Jokimaitė.

The president of the court, D. Bublienė, speaking about the assessment of the work efficiency of the highest courts, considered whether quantitative indicators alone, such as the number of cases examined, their balance, the time during which cases are examined, etc., reveal the quality of the activity of these courts. "Determining appropriate indicators of quality assessment and evaluating it is difficult. Could the percentage of public trust in the courts be an indicator of quality assessment? It's difficult to answer when that percentage varies from survey to survey. However, the public's trust in the courts is one of the main incentives to improve", emphasized D. Bublienė.

G. Juodkaitė-Granskienė, the chairwoman of the Criminal Cases Department, reviewed the possibilities of increasing efficiency with internal resources. She commented on the Supreme Court's requirements for the preparation of cassation rulings and other procedural documents and their quality, introduced the system of training and upgrading the qualifications of judges and assistant judges, and discussed the practice of digitizing court proceedings.

Meetings of the Supreme Courts of the Baltic States have been held annually since 1993, when the cooperation agreement between the presidents of the then Supreme Courts of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia was signed.

In 2024 The meeting of the Supreme Courts of the Baltic States is scheduled in Lithuania.