By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Lawyers are joining the efforts of prosecutors to keep the judges on their toes ― whether they are aware of it or not.
The Seoul Bar Association (SBA), which represents nearly 7,000 Seoul-based lawyers, Monday made public its second assessment of the city's judges.
The annual evaluation of judges made its debut in January last year, stirring up controversy over its fairness and objectivity. Two other regional bar associations are considering introducing a similar program this year.
The assessment came at a time when the court's credibility is being called into question following the recent acquittal of Rep. Kang Ki-gab of the progressive Democratic Labor Party regarding his violent behavior at the National Assembly last year over the governing Grand National Party's media industry-related bill.
Unlike the first time around, the association released the names of its 15 best-rated judges. But it did not release the names of 15 judges at the bottom of the list.
"The top judges earned high scores from the lawyers involved in the evaluation," Kim Hyun, president of the SBA, told reporters at a press conference at the Seoul Central District Court. "We disclosed the top judges' names to praise them and motivate other judges to follow suit."
Kim's association provided the report to the Supreme Court ahead of the announcement, asking it to use the data for personnel management.
"We had confirmed that the first report had a significant impact in reshuffling judges," Kim asserted. But Supreme Court Spokesman Oh Seok-joon denied this, saying they've never taken it seriously."
The Korean judicial system has refused to have judges assessed by external entities over the concern that it could undermine the court's independence.
"Basically, the assessments conducted by lawyers cannot be fair," said a senior judge. "If lawyers evaluate judges, they tend to give higher scores to those favoring their clients. This could jeopardize the court's independence."
The SBA head emphasized that it required all participants to identify themselves on their evaluation documents sheet to ensure fairness and objectiveness. "So the assessment was neither biased nor subjective," Kim said.
According to the association, 555 attorneys ― 13 percent of all SBA members ― voluntarily participated in the assessment of 689 judges at eight Seoul courts last year.
The best judges earned an average of 97.33 points out of 100, while the worst received an average score of 43.2. The overall average came to 76.38.
The SBA president said that Taiwan has seen improvements in its judiciary system after it introduced a similar program in 1996. Japan and the United States also run similar programs, he added.
Proponents of the evaluation system claim that the judges' unchallenged status have made them arrogant and high-handed.
The plan to introduce the program has gained momentum following a petition filed with the SBA in late 2008, in which a lawyer condemned a senior judge for insulting not only the attorney himself but also the plaintiff.