Positions in the judiciary

‍In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, permanent judges are appointed by the President of the Republic on the basis of a proposal for decision presented by the Government. For the purpose of filling positions in the judiciary, other than positions in the judiciary in the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court, there is an independent Judicial Appointments Board. These positions include President of the Court of Appeal, Justice of the Court of Appeal, Chief Judge of a District Court, District Judge, Chief Judge of an Administrative Court, Administrative Court Judge, Chief Judge of the Insurance Court, Insurance Judge, President of the Labour Court, Labour Court Judge, Chief Judge of the Market Court, Market Court Judge, Market Court Engineer, and Engineer of a District Court operating as a Land Court. Most of these include positions with higher and lower grade posts. The composition, number of members constituting a quorum and operations of the High Court of Impeachment are provided in more detail by law.

The goal of the Courts Act (673/2016) is to ensure that positions in the judiciary are filled by persons with versatile experience of various branches of law. For this reason, the person appointed in a position in the judiciary should have prior experience of court and other legal work and the functioning of society on a more general level.

A permanent position as a judge and a position as a chief judge to be filled for a fixed term shall be announced open for application before it is filled. When deciding whether to declare a judicial post open for application, the court shall indicate whether the person to be appointed to the post is required to have special language skills or other special skills.

The permanent positions as a judge to be applied for can always be found in the Valtiolle.fi recruitment system and on the tuomioistuimet.fi website of the judicial administration (Open workplaces - Tuomioistuinlaitos ).

Required qualifications

According to Chapter 10, section 1 of the Courts Act, to be appointed as judge, the person shall be a Finnish citizen with integrity who holds a master’s degree in law other than a master’s degree in international and comparative law, and who by his or her earlier service in court or in another position has demonstrated that he or she has the knowledge of the field in question and the necessary personal characteristics required for the successful performance of the duties of the position to be filled.

A degree in law that is a qualification requirement may also be completed abroad if the Finnish National Agency for Education has by decision equated the degree with a master's degree in law other than a master's degree in international and comparative law completed in Finland. The qualification must have been completed and the Finnish National Agency for Education's decision received before the end of the application period.

The persons appointed as President of the Court of Appeal, Chief Judge of a District Court, Chief Judge of an Administrative Court, Chief Judge of the Insurance Court, President of the Labour Court or Chief Judge of the Market Court must also have leadership skills.

In addition, the qualification requirement is excellent oral and written knowledge of the language of the majority of the population in the judicial district, satisfactory knowledge of the second language and satisfactory oral knowledge in a monolingual court, and satisfactory oral and written knowledge of the second language in a bilingual court. Special language posts require excellent oral and written knowledge of a minority language in the judicial district and satisfactory oral and written knowledge of a majority language.

Consideration of matters by the Judicial Appointments Board

Before making a proposal for appointment, the Judicial Appointments Board shall request a statement on the applicants from the court that made the decision to declare the position open for application. However, a statement regarding the applicants for a position of district court judge shall be requested from the appropriate court of appeal and, in addition, from the district court where the position is open for application. The Board may obtain other statements and reports and hear applicants and experts.

The court that has declared the position open for application shall obtain an adequate assessment basis for its opinion on all candidates worthy of consideration on the basis of the information in the recapitulative statement of merit. If the applicant is not sufficiently well known in the issuing court, a written statement may be requested from the applicant's current or previous workplace, such as another court or other agency. If possible, the report must also be obtained from serious applicants working outside the judiciary. The court may also interview the applicants before issuing an opinion. In the case of posts of Chief Judges, suitability assessments of candidates may also be commissioned.

After the courts have submitted their opinions to the Judicial Appointments Board, the applicants are reserved the opportunity to comment on the statements and information acquired for the preparation of the appointment. The assessments of applicants contained in the appointment-related documents delivered to the applicants are confidential. The applicants may not disclose to third parties any information about the other applicants indicated in these documents. The documents also contain personal data relating to applicants, which must be processed in accordance with the provisions on data protection.

The Judicial Appointments Board's proposal of appointment

The task of the Judicial Appointments Board is to prepare the filling of the post and, on the basis of the application documents and the opinions issued, to submit a reasoned proposal for the appointment of a judge to the post, which is submitted to the Government for presentation to the President of the Republic of the matter of appointment.

The applicants' competence and familiarity with the scope of the post will be assessed in the selection process. In terms of familiarity, the examination will focus on the knowledge and skills acquired through the training and previous work of the applicants. The perspective is the actual ability of applicants to manage the job to be filled. Familiarity includes, for example, material law and knowledge of the process, management of legal information, ability to identify and resolve problems, ability to focus on the factual and legal material of the case, ability to manage the process, ability to reason and language skills. Skills can also be acquired in a legal profession other than working exclusively for the judiciary. Such other duties would include, for example, the duties of a lawyer, prosecutor, university researcher and teacher, and law drafting officials, as well as legal duties in different administrative sectors. A person appointed as a judge is also required to possess the necessary personal characteristics. Personal characteristics refer to talent, work ability, initiative, performance and managerial ability. In addition, personal characteristics refer to the professional ethics of a judge: ability to make independent decisions, independence, self-improvement, ability to cooperate and attitudes towards work and its changes.

The chairperson of the Judicial Appointments Board is the member nominated by the Supreme Court and the vice chairperson is the member nominated by the Supreme Administrative Court. The other members are one president of the courts of appeal, one chief judge of the administrative courts, one chief judge of the district courts, one permanent judge of the courts of appeal, one district court judge, two administrative court judges or one administrative court judge and one judge of a special court, one attorney -at-law, one prosecutor, and one member representing legal research and education. Each member has a personal deputy. The Judicial Appointments Board has a quorum when the chairperson or vice chairperson and at least eight other members or deputy members are present. The Judicial Appointments Board also has a secretary who must have a degree in law and sound knowledge of court operations.