The Part-Time Judge Symposium was held in the Bar Associations Building on November 26, 2003, for establishing the judge system in which judges will be appointed from a various and wider range of sources.
The part-time judge system started this January, in which 30 practicing attorneys across the country serve as part-time judges and preside over conciliation procedures for settling civil or family disputes. The symposium aimed to discuss how to support this new system and exchange opinions among the appointed part-time judges. At the beginning of the symposium, a representative from the General Secretariat of the Supreme Court addressed his hope, "Recruiting judges from a various and wider range of sources would result in the judge system which has a diverse and large stock of judges. The part-time judge system is a unique system in the world and the judges ought to learn from each other to improve the system. The number of the part-time judges will be increased to over 100 in the future."
It was followed by a speech of an attorney appointed as a part-time judge and a panel discussion including members from the Supreme Court and the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. Opinions on the coming new system were actively exchanged.
