THEORETICAL AND LEGAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE JUDGE’S ASSISTANT IN UKRAINE

Abstract

The author researched the scientific foundations and practical principles of the functioning of the institute of the assistant judge in Ukraine, characterized the main structural elements of the corresponding legal formation and proved that it plays a significant role in the administration of justice by courts of various instances. It was found that the current legislation of Ukraine properly regulates the legal status of a judge’s assistant, distinguishes his rights and duties, as well as guarantees of professional activity, which, in turn, indicates the appropriate level of not only the provision of labor rights, but also the strengthening of the institution of rights and human and citizen freedoms in general, because the quality of the work performed by a judge’s assistant directly depends on the regulation of his duties in current legislation and the guarantee of professional independence and career growth. It has been proven that the improvement of the legal status of a judge’s assistant in Ukraine can be achieved not only in the normative-legal, but also in the organizational-administrative one, which in turn involves the expansion of the range of his rights, objectification of duties, as well as a significant expansion of the range of social guarantees, which in turn will increase the image and authority of the profession of assistant judge and harmonize its legal position in the judicial system of Ukraine. The conclusion is that the content and essence, as well as the role and significance of the activity of the assistant judge in the judicial system of Ukraine, in relation to each other, is difficult to overestimate, because under the conditions of the legal regime of martial law (as well as before its introduction on the territory of Ukraine), the judicial system worked under the conditions of ongoing judicial reform and significant overload, which negatively affected the quality of the work performed. The prospect of further research is to carry out a deeper structural analysis of the regulatory and legal basis of the functioning of the institute of assistant judges in Ukraine, with the aim of distinguishing mutually exclusive and duplicative norms, as well as the regulation of additional social guarantees, which should positively affect the functioning of the relevant institute in general.