Focussing on current and potential threats to the judicial independence, participants from Lebanon, Tunisia, Kuwait and Germany gathered to exchange expertise and knowledge on topics related to appointment and tenure, system of promotion, deliberation processes and extra-jurisdictional activities. The sessions tackled the influence of the industry as well as the political pressure which can interfere with the application of justice. 

Among the high ranking legal experts were Judge Jean Eid, President of the Cassation Court and representative of the President of the Supreme Judicial Council Judge Jean Fahed, Judge Mayssam Al-Noueiry, Director-General of the Ministry of Justice, Judge Ghaleb Ghanem, former President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Judge Khaled Mohamed al-Kandari from Kuwait, Judge Anware Mnasri from Tunisia, Judge Michael Snowadsky from Germany and Dr. Anja Schoeller-Schletter, Director of the Rule of Law Programme at Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

Gathering experience and lessons learnt from the MENA region and Europe, the workshop compared different mechanisms adopted by judicial entities to protect the individual judge against undue influence and pressure.