CJ aims to strengthen legal advocacy, tackle backlog cases

Chief justice tenureship for Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh would be packed with agendas outside the courtroom, as the judiciary plans to hold more Court of Appeal and Federal Court sittings outside Putrajaya to give way to legal advocacy.

Apart from strengthening circuit sittings, the 17th chief justice is also committed to resolving the issues of backlog cases with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) while ensuring a balanced judicial wellness among judges.

Last month, Wan Ahmad Farid presided over a Court of Appeal circuit sitting in Penang, which was revived after almost a decade.

“Continuing legal education is very close to my heart (one where) I want to expose young lawyers (to).

“If our sitting is restricted and limited to Putrajaya, then the young lawyers in Penang, Kelantan and Johor would not be able to come. So, we go to them.

“(This is so) that young lawyers, the chambering students, will be able to attend these sittings and learn about advocacy because that is something you cannot learn in law school,” he said, adding that advocacy is learnt by observing senior advocates' performance in court.

As for the backlog cases and judgments, Wan Ahmad Farid said, despite having an AI assistance, judges are not bound by its suggestions, as it is only a tool to assist them in searching for case trends and precedent cases in helping them to write their grounds of judgment.

“I’ve always said the human aspect of AI is lacking, so the judges, the magistrates and the court judges must use their own skill to decide one way or the other.

“We’re also looking to appoint a committee to explore other possibilities on how AI can be used to enhance the quality of judgment,” he told reporters yesterday.

Apart from AI, he added, the judiciary is exploring possibilities to appoint more judicial commissioners to help clear backlog cases, where lawyers could also be allowed to serve their country on a two-year contract.

“I think it's a good idea. Although we know that a judicial commissioner’s salary is not as lucrative (as lawyers), we consider it a national service.

“I know that there are many lawyers who are willing to sacrifice the two years of income compared to the mere meagre salary of being a judicial commissioner.

“These are the possibilities that we are going to explore, but we also have to understand that judges have a lot of work. Our work does not end when we go back,” said Wan Ahmad Farid.

Judicial wellness

Another top priority, he said, would be a judge’s judicial wellness, one that the judiciary would approach and assist to ensure their ability to perform in presiding and deciding cases is maintained.

“We notice that judges who have a backlog of drafts tend to write a longer judgment, so we try to approach them, expose them to judgment writing courses so that they can write a precise one.

“It is not about the volume, but it is about the style of writing, which I believe would help.

“At the same time, we are also very particular about judicial wellness, (because) for certain judges, for example, a criminal court judge, may get traumatised by just looking at the evidence in a criminal trial.

“So that would affect your overall ability and performance, and these are the things that we have to consider; we are not going to pass judgment on them, but instead facilitate and assist them,” Wan Ahmad Farid explained.

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