Promotion to the category of Magistrate Judge is regulated under Article 311 of the Organic Law on the Judiciary, which states that for every four Magistrate Judge vacancies that arise, one will be filled through selection tests in the area of civil and criminal law, and tests for specialisation in contentious-administrative, labour and commercial law.

Promotion to the category of specialist Magistrate Judge in the contentious-administrative [labour / commercial ] courts is gained by passing a selection process governed by the principles of equality, merit and ability, the purpose of which is to assess the degree of professional training required to exercise judicial functions in contentious-administrative [labour / commercial ] law. The tests take place approximately twice a year.

The requirements for taking part in this specialisation process for contentious-administrative [labour / commercial ] law are to be a member of the Judiciary (Judge or Magistrate Judge) or a member of the State Prosecution Service with at least two years of effective service, whatever your administrative situation, unless you have been definitively suspended. Without prejudice to these requirements, to access these tests evidence must be provided of participation in ongoing training activities with a gender perspective (Art. 312.3 of the Organic Law on the Judiciary) with a minimum duration of fifty teaching hours. 

The body responsible for the selection process is the Standing Committee of the General Council of the Judiciary.

The Grading Board that will assess the entry tests for this category will comprise:

• The President of the Supreme Court, or a Magistrate Judge of the Supreme Court or High Court of Justice delegated by him or her, who will chair the Board,
• two magistrate judges,
• one prosecutor,
• two senior university professors of contentious-administrative [labour / ] law; tenured university professors may be appointed on an exceptional basis,
• a State attorney,
• a lawyer with more than ten years’ professional practice,
• a first-category Judicial Administration Clerk,
• a lawyer of the General Council of the Judiciary who holds a law degree, to act as Secretary.

[ Mercantil:

• a magistrate judge of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court,
• three magistrate judges, two within the civil court system and one within the labour court system, where the former are preferably appointed from among those specialised in commercial court matters,
• a senior or, where appropriate, tenured university professor of commercial law, with over ten years’ experience,
• a lawyer with more than ten years’ professional practice, particularly in matters falling within the jurisdiction of the commercial courts,
• a lawyer of the General Council of the Judiciary who holds a law degree, to act as secretary.]

 

The selection process will comprise two stages: the first will involve a theoretical and practical exercise, and the second will involve a theoretical and practical course at the Judicial School headquarters in Barcelona:

l. Completion of a selection process, comprising the following exercises:

a) Theoretical exercise (maximum 80 minutes’ duration) [Mercantil: maximum 60 minutes’ duration / Oral presentation to the board in a public hearing, on three topics drawn at random from the first part of the programme published with the call for applications]: Oral presentation to the board in a public hearing, on four topics drawn at random (two topics on general administrative law, one topic on specialised administrative law and procedural contentious-administrative law, and one topic on tax law) [two topics on labour law, one topic on Social Security law and one topic on procedural law]. After the presentation, the candidates must respond to comments made by the board about the presentation, for no longer than fifteen minutes.

b) Practical exercise (maximum five hours): this will involve writing a judgment based on a practical case set by the board, which will be corrected and assessed by the board, adopting the necessary measures to duly preserve the anonymity of its authors [Mercantil: this will involve writing a report on the subjects in the second part of the syllabus published with the call for applications, to be read out in a public hearing]. 

II. Completion of a theoretical and practical course at the Judicial School, which currently lasts six [Mercantil: seven] weeks and includes theoretical and practical modules taught jointly, which are divided into two stages:

a) First stage (five weeks) [approximately five weeks ]: this takes place at the Judicial School and the Chamber of Contentious-Administrative Matters of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia [Chamber of Labour Matters of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia / ] [Mercantil: completion of a theoretical and practical course for four weeks at the Judicial School and one week at the First Chamber of the Supreme Court.].

b) Second stage (one week) [approximately one week / approximately two weeks]: this takes place at the Chamber of Contentious-Administrative Matters of the Supreme Court [Chamber of Labour Matters of the Supreme Court] [Mercantil: supervised practical experience to take place at various specialised courts in Spain].