A roundtable discussion on the caseload in Georgian courts, organized by the USAID Rule of Law Program, in cooperation with the Georgian Bar Association (GBA), took place on December 18-19, 2023, in Kutaisi and Batumi. A total of 46 lawyers and 2 judges participated in the discussion.

Sophio Sokhadze, co-chair of the GBA Justice and Judicial Reform Committee, presented the main findings of a study recently prepared by GBA with Program support and then facilitated discussions among the lawyers and judges from the Adjara and Imereti regions.

According to study, one of the major challenges facing the Georgian justice system is the inefficient management of case flow. This not only hinders the establishment of the rule of law, but also has a negative impact on the right to a fair trial. The majority of civil cases in the court system are related to loans and obligations, accounting for 60% of the cases. According to the data collected, the administrative and civil case completion rate in Adjara is the lowest among all the regions. In 2020, the Kvemo Kartli region had the highest case completion rate for administrative cases at 60.1%, while in Adjara, it was only 34%.

During the sessions, lawyers discussed several main problems, including the lack of statistical court data, insufficient numbers of judges to handle caseloads, the need for time management training for judges, delayed delivery of grounded decisions by the court to the lawyers, and loss of interest in civil case proceedings due to lengthy trials that can take up to three years.

Judges, Tsitsino Kikvadze from Kutaisi City Court and Murtaz Kapanadze from Samtredia Court, also shared their insights during the meeting. They mentioned negative practices such as the rotation of judges, lack of interest in court employment, and the high rate of adjournment requests made by lawyers.