The first and second-place winners of the Judicial Winter School 2023, held under the auspices of the High School of Justice, are now known.

On February 25, 2023, the USAID Rule of Law Program, Council of Europe, and the South Caucasus presence of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights awarded first place to Tamar Tsereteli and second place to Khatia Shekiladze. Both are so-called “writer” judicial assistants, with Tamar working at the Tbilisi Court of Appeals and Khatia at the Supreme Court of Georgia.

As their prizes, Ms. Tsereteli will join a study tour to the U.S. together with Georgian civil and administrative law judges, while Ms. Shekiladze will visit the European Court of Human Rights and Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France to study mechanisms of human rights protection in Europe. 

The winners of the Judicial School were selected based on several writing assignments, including multiple-choice tests and drafting of a legal memorandum. In total, twenty participants were selected for the 2023 Judicial Winter School, and 25 participants from the previous Judicial School also received certificates at the award ceremony.    

This is the sixth Judicial School supported by the USAID Rule of Law Program, and it ran from January 22-26, 2023. The School enhanced the theoretical knowledge and practical skills of the participants, consisting of judicial assistants, representatives of court analytical units, judicial interns, and graduating law school students.

Topics covered by the eleven invited expert trainers included the latest practices of the Constitutional Court of Georgia and the European Court of Human Rights, children's rights, national and international standards related to the prohibition of discrimination, freedom of expression, current novelties in business law, and legal writing.