In addition to its training activities for Judges, Magistrates and Judicial Officers in Tribunals in England and Wales, the Judicial Studies Board is also a member of a range of supra-national and international networks. The Director of Studies is responsible for carrying out this aspect of the increasing workload of the JSB.

Within the UK, the JSB is a member of the United Kingdom Judicial Council and meets twice per annum with the Judicial Studies Committee of Scotland and the Judicial Studies Board of Northern Ireland. Regular meetings are held to discuss issues of common concern, and judges from each jurisdiction attend training events run by the others from time to time. The venue for each meeting rotates around the three countries. We make available to each other relevant work in which we are currently engaged and publications. The spirit of co-operation is high.

Within the European Union, the JSB is an active participant in the European Judicial Training Network. This Network was constituted under a Charter signed in Bordeaux in November 2000, and exists to promote co-operation between the Judicial Training Colleges in each of the Member States of the European Union. It is founded under the laws of Belgium and in September 2005 opened its new offices in Brussels. The JSB is a member of the steering committee comprising 9 member states out of the 25 in membership across the EU and is also a member of working group 2 “Websites”. We are taking an active part in the preparation of a pan-European bench book. A large number of events are organised annually across Europe by the training schools in membership of the network, which are open to all other members. Further, under the aegis of EU funding an exchange scheme is in being enabling judges to experience the work of other countries. The JSB has hosted a number of training events under the aegis of the Network (and with funding provided by the Community) - most recently a seminar on the Evidence of Children in Cambridge in April 2002.

The JSB is on the Board of Governors of the International Organisation for Judicial Training, an world-wide judicial body dedicated to promotion of the rule of law in other countries and in helping other countries to establish training schools which further such rule.

Further, the JSB sits on the Advisory Board of the Commonwealth Judicial Training Institute.

Internationally we are very active. A link on this page will take the reader to our “Short guide to the work of the JSB for other jurisdictions”. We receive many requests for assistance from overseas, sometimes channelled through the British Council, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or the International Division of the Department for Constitutional Affairs but sometimes direct from overseas jurisdictions. The invitations can range from presenting a paper at a conference to assisting the jurisdiction by undertaking a scoping study and thereafter making suggestions as to how their project can be best achieved. Sometimes the work covers a discrete area. At other times it can extend to assisting in setting up a new training school from scratch. In this regard, between January 2004 and September 2005 we undertook a variety of such work in Montenegro, Southern Ireland, Ottawa, Bahrain, Jordan, Hong Kong and Cyprus.

Further, we regularly host international visitors from overseas jurisdictions at Millbank.

[Last updated 03/08/2005 12:15:00]