Mauritius and France sign Agreement on Judicial Training

The Institute for Judicial and Legal Studies (IJLS) and l’Ecole Nationale de la Magistrature Française (ENM) signed on the first of October in Port Louis a cooperation agreement to promote the exchange of expertise and experiences in various fields of the judiciary. The agreement was signed in the presence of the Attorney General, Mr Yatin Varma, the Chief Justice, Mr Bernard Sik Yuen, and other personalities from the judiciary.

The agreement covers exchange programs for magistrates under training or internship in the jurisdiction where IJLS and the ENM are proposing to host annual workshops for judges and future judges of both countries, and exchange programs of stakeholders/experts to ensure teaching assignments within their respective training, particularly in comparative studies on legislation, litigation and the development of best practices.

It also provides for an exchange program in which trainers of the IJLS and the ENM will host in their respective institutions trainers from other schools to share teaching tools and methodologies. Provision is also made for the participation of judges and future judges at international conferences, seminars and workshops organised by either country. Training of trainers, for a period of four to five days, is held in Mauritius and France.

The Institute for Judicial and Legal Studies Act 2011 establishes the Institute for Judicial and Legal Studies which is entrusted with the responsibility to:

• conduct or supervise courses, seminars or workshops for the continuous training of judicial and legal officers;
• devise, organise and conduct Continuing Professional Development Programmes for law practitioners and legal officers, and courses for prospective judicial and legal officers and law practitioners who qualified as such in a State other than Mauritius;
• organise and conduct courses for police and public officers, court staff and persons employed by law practitioners, with a view to improving the administration of justice;
• promote proficiency and ensure the maintenance of standards in the Judiciary and among law practitioners and legal officers, and in the delivery of court services in general; and
• establish areas of cooperation and linkages with local, regional and international bodies in the judicial and legal sectors.

The Law Practitioners (Amendment) Act 2011 makes it compulsory as from 3 September 2012 for every law practitioner and legal officer to participate every year in a Continuing Professional Development Programme for the prescribed number of hours. The Institute for Judicial and Legal Studies is in the process of finalising the details of the first courses to be dispensed during the first quarter of its first academic year.

The Institute for Judicial and Legal Studies is based in the premises of the Mediation Division of the Supreme Court at the Happy World House in Port Louis.