Mr. First President Christophe Soulard went to London, accompanied by a delegation from the Court of Cassation, on October 2 and 3, 2023, in order to attend the Opening Ceremony of the Judicial Year and to highlight establishes a program of enhanced cooperation with the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
Mr. First President Christophe Soulard, accompanied by Ms. President Sandrine Zientara, Director of the Documentation, Studies and Reporting Department, Mr. Referendum Advisor Edouard Rottier and Ms. Clémence Bourillon, Head of the International Relations Department, attended the opening ceremony of the United Kingdom’s judicial year at Westminster Abbey. This ceremony brings together judges as well as clerks and lawyers from the United Kingdom.
Subsequently, the First President spoke with representatives of the various Franco-British networks of which the Court of Cassation is a member, in particular Sir Simon Picken, judge at the High Court, and Professor Catherine Pedamon, President of the English and Welsh section of the Association of Franco-British Jurists. These rich exchanges served as a reminder of the Court of Cassation’s attachment to the exchange of case law and good practices and the maintenance of close bilateral relations in the context of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union.
On October 3, 2023, a bilateral meeting was held between the delegation of the Court of Cassation and the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, in particular The Right Honorable the Lord Reed, President of the Supreme Court, The Right Honorable Lord Hodge, vice -President of the Supreme Court, The Right Honorable Lord Hamblen and The Right Honorable Lord Stephens. This working meeting was divided into two round tables on themes of common interest and great relevance for both courses:
Transparency and judicial communication;
The use of new technologies by the Courts, and the judicial use of artificial intelligence.
Despite the very different legal operations and cultures of the two courts, the work made it possible to jointly identify the common challenges facing the supreme courts in terms of accessibility of justice, understanding and trust of the citizen and, more specifically, the advantages and dangers of artificial intelligence in the field of justice.
This meeting was an opportunity for the Court of Cassation to share its experience in these areas and to collect the reflections and good practices of the British Supreme Court, very innovative in terms of judicial pedagogy and the Court’s openness to the city. . It also promoted understanding of the working methods of the Supreme Court, in particular through the meeting of the “Judicial Assistants”, who constitute a real team around the supreme judge.
A model of reinforced cooperation, as desired in the international strategy of the first president, this study visit made it possible to establish the principle of regular working discussions between the two courts.
This article is originally published on courdecassation.fr
