Member States

Flag of Romania

Romania

Flag of Romania

Romania | National Judicial Training Institute/School

EAJTN

Institutul Național al Magistraturii
The National Institute of Magistracy

Contacts:
Address :
National Institute of Magistracy 53 Regina Elisabeta Blvd. sector 5, Bucharest , RO-050014
Tel.: +40 21 407 62 03
Fax: +40 21 311 02 34
Email: office@inm-lex.ro
Website: www.inm-lex.ro

About The National Institute of Magistracy

EAJTN

Established in 1992 in order to meet the needs of shaping a professional body of highly qualified magistrates – judges and prosecutors, the National Institute of Magistracy (NIM) is a public autonomous institution providing initial training to future judges and prosecutors, continuous training to appointed judges and prosecutors, as well as training sessions to trainers. The NIM is also involved in organising competitions and examinations relating to the career of magistrates. It is coordinated by the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM), the independent body governing the judicial system and constitutionally guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary. NIM is run by a director and two deputy directors, who are legal professionals. The structure of the Institute includes an advisory body – the Scientific Council, composed of 13 members: judges, prosecutors, law faculty professors, NIM trainers and a representative of the auditors of justice. The Institute is located in the country capital, Bucharest.

Initial training

There are two ways of joining the ranks of magistracy in Romania: the admission to NIM examination and the admission examination targeted at law school graduates having at least 5 years seniority in the practice of law. The selection process is based on the professional competence, skills and good reputation and it is carried out through a national competition. Successful candidates of the admission to NIM examination become judicial trainees and follow the initial training programme for two years (three years, starting with 2025). During the first year, judicial trainees attend mainly seminars, conferences and extra-curricular activities at NIM. The activity during the second year of training is mainly organized within first instance courts and prosecution offices attached to these courts, under the guidance of traineeship coordinators, who are judges and prosecutors, part of NIM’ s training staff. Initial training is mainly concerned with the acquisition of specialized skills. The study of law is practical, preparing the future judges and prosecutors for an effective and responsible participation in their profession. The assessment of the knowledge and skills acquired over the initial training consists both of formative and final assessments. After their initial training at NIM, the graduation exam confers judicial trainees the status of junior judges and prosecutors for one year at the end of which they are being assessed again – through the capacity exam – and they become in-service judges and prosecutors.

Continuous training

Judges and prosecutors attend at least once every three years continuous training programmes organized by NIM and other higher education institutions from Romania or abroad, or at other various forms of educational improvement. NIM organizes continuous training courses according to a yearly schedule. Continuous training of judges and prosecutors is delivered taking into consideration the needs of their field of specialization. NIM provides continuous training both at centralized and decentralized levels. Decentralized training activities are organized at the level of courts of appeal and prosecution offices attached to courts of appeal and target common mandatory training areas, as well as optional training areas and it has known a significant growth since its inception in 2006. Nowadays it represents an important vocational training system which is complementary to the one at centralized level.

Training of trainers

The training staff of NIM is mainly selected from the judiciary, approximately 80% of them being judges and prosecutors. NIM’s training staff includes also experts from outside the judiciary area like psychologists, forensics, communication and foreign languages experts. The training staff provides initial, continuous and training of trainers’ expertise in compliance with the established syllabi and it is composed of full-time trainers, part-time trainers and traineeship coordinators. The recruitment is made by means of public examinations, under the terms of the Statute of the NIM training staff, according to the principle of transparency and taking into consideration professional and training experience. The train-the-trainers process targets newly recruited trainers/traineeship coordinators who express the wish to attend such programme and the ones for whom the NIM’s Scientific Board recommends the attendance. Trainers are assessed each 3 years based on specific methodologies adapted for each type of training. The assessment procedures and criteria are set out in the Statute of the NIM training staff.

Competitions and exams

NIM supports the Superior Council of Magistracy in organising competitions and examinations related to the magistrates’ career:

  • examinations for admission to magistracy: admission to NIM and admission to magistracy, the latter targeted at law school graduates having at least 5 years seniority in the practice of law;
  • graduation exam for the judicial trainees;
  • capacity examinations for junior judges and prosecutors;
  • promotions to higher courts and prosecution offices;
  • appointments of court presidents/vice-presidents, chief-prosecutors/deputies;
  • appointments of judges and prosecutors to the position of judiciary inspector and to the position of chief / deputy chief-inspector
  • Flag of Romania

    Romania| National Official Representative(s) to EAJTN

    Cristina Rotaru-Radu

    Judge

    Simona-Camelia Marcu

    Director of the National Institute of Magistracy of Romania

    Tel. : +4021 407 62 03
    E-mail: simona.marcu@inm-lex.ro

    Graduated in law from Bucharest University in 1988

    Judge at the Administrative and Tax Litigation Chamber of the High Court of Cassation and
    Justice since 2006

    Elected Member of the Superior Council of Magistracy from 2017 to 2023
    President of the Superior Council of Magistracy from 2018 to 2019
    Trainer of the National Institute of Magistracy for Civil Law and Civil Procedure Law since
    1997
    Director of the National Institute of Magistracy since June 2023