National Conference and Training “Being a lawyer in times of constitutional reckoning” 18 - 20 May 2022
On 18-20 May 2022, the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdansk hosted a conference and training for judges, prosecutors, legal advisors and advocates within the framework of the European Commission-funded project TRIIAL - TRust, Independence, Impartiality and Accountability (Horizon 2020, project no. 853832, JUST-JTRA-EJTR-AG 2018). The Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdansk was one of the main partners in the project alongside distinguished European academic centers, i.e. European University Institute (EUI), University of Maastricht (UM), The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS), among others. The conference and training were the concluding event of the cooperation of the WPiA in TRIIAL. On the part of the University of Gdansk, the project was conducted by Tomasz T. Koncewicz, Ph.D. ( Department of European Law and Comparative Legal Studies) and the leader of TRIIAL project, as well as members of TRIIAL team: Anna Podolska Ph.D. (Department of Human Rights and Intellectual Property Law) and Marcin Michalak Ph.D. (Department of European Law and Comparative Legal Studies). Over the two years of the project's duration, the Gdańsk-based TRIIAL team has co-created a series of events of European and international dimension devoted to the issues of trust to the justice system, as well as independence, impartiality and accountability of legal professionals. Research results will be published in a specially prepared Report, which will appear as part of the prestigious Working Papers series published by the Robert Schumann Center for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute.
The event summarizing the project consisted of two parts: a conference and a workshop. It was devoted to the role of lawyers in ensuring observance of the rule of law as well as to the evolution in understanding the judges' independence, accountability, and the principle of mutual trust. The conference was inaugurated by Professor Krzysztof Piotr Bielawski, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gdansk for innovation and cooperation with the socio-economic environment. In the conference prominent representatives of the doctrine of European and international law and judges of the highest national courts presented their reflections on supranational standards of legal protection and judicial independence. As part of a specially organized panel, representatives of legal professions and NGOs discussed the challenges facing lawyers in ensuring that the rule of law remains the cornerstone of the democratic state of law, the European community of law and a point of reference for every lawyer. In turn, during the training part led by Prof. Maciej Taborowski, of INP PAN and TRIIAL members Ms Anna Podolska and Marcin Michalak, PhD, of WPIA UG, judges, lawyers and prosecutors had the opportunity to become acquainted with the latest jurisprudence of supranational courts in the field of ensuring judicial independence and impartiality as well as to learn about mechanisms, tools and procedures aimed at ensuring compliance with the rule of law offered by European law.
The conference and workshop were held under the patronage of JUSTITIA Polish Judges Association.
Below you will find presentations of Prof. Tomasz T. Koncewicz's speech that opened the conference and the first panel of the conference.
