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Publication date: 20.02.2024
Lawyer, graduated from the National University "Odesa Law Academy" with honors. Since 2017, I have been specializing in legal and educational and general legal issues. I am the author of legal articles, scientific publications and articles in the educational environment. Mentor of the "Veritas" legal clinic. The owner of the legal blog "Educational_law_ua" on Instagram.
The Supreme Council of Justice was informed that in our country it is necessary to carry out a procedure regarding the processes of optimization and reduction of a significant number of general local courts due to the need for equal distribution of the burden specifically on courts of first instance (general courts).
According to the Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of Justice, it is necessary to solve the problems related to the burden on all such courts in this way, because as of 2023, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv alone received more than sixty thousand cases, but at the same time, this court only has such special powers nineteen judges, taking into account the number of 36 judges. In this case, approximately one judge has to consider more than three thousand cases. It is also worth mentioning that there are courts with a much smaller case load. So, for example, the Kolomatsky District Court (Kharkiv Region) received only 359 cases for two judges - as of 2023. Considering the fact that a significant number of cases are related to family law, a family lawyer even in such conditions, and the consultations of a family lawyer of the legal marketplace "Consultant" will help you solve legal issues, because a family law lawyer or a family lawyer, for example, can sometimes play an important role in restoring your rights or representation of a family lawyer in court.
Thus, the general situation with excessive case load for judges is a negative sign for the legal and genuine access of Ukrainians to domestic justice. There is also a corresponding influence on the very quality of such court decisions. The problem can be solved by updating vacancies and also by conducting a procedure for optimizing the court system. Such news was reported by the deputy chairman of the Supreme Council of Justice, to whom he noted this during a round table on the future of justice.
We should also emphasize the opinion of the chairman of the Council of Judges, Bohdan Monich, who noted that, as of today, there are 2 actual options for such a procedure to optimize the corresponding number of local general courts. According to the first option of optimization, it is determined that the number of local general courts should be reduced to 220 courts. According to the second option, it is determined that there should be a reduction to 151 courts. This option is more complicated and more radical.
In addition, Monich's consultation made it clear that it was emphasized that regardless of the different workload, the remuneration of judges for their work is considered the same. However, under the conditions of martial law in Ukraine, the continuation of work on the optimization of the courts is still temporarily suspended. It should be noted that, as of now, 663 general local courts are operating on the territory of Ukraine, and the issues of new optimization were relevant four years ago, and already in the middle of 2022 they were widely discussed.
However, at the end of 2022, the President of Ukraine signed a draft law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada regarding changes to the transitional and final provisions of the Law of Ukraine "On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges" regarding issues of the territorial nature of the jurisdiction of local-level courts and before the adoption of legislation regarding the changeability of the system of local-level courts, because this procedure determines a new optimization already within a year after the cancellation of martial law.
