Professional identities and legitimacy challenged by a managerial approach: The Belgian judicial system

The conditions prevailing in Belgium, at the time a managerial approach was approved and introduced into its judicial system, are analyzed in this article along with the limitations and consequences for the legal professions. Belgian judicial culture has long been hostile to cost-analysis and an organizational perspective. As in many other Western countries, however, it is now being challenged by the growing impact of the rationale of efficiency. Accepted by some members of the legal professions (who nonetheless question certain of its aspects), the transformations show that the various sorts of existing regulations – legal, political, managerial – at the same time coexist and compete. There have been several outcomes: magistrates’ identities are being overhauled, the legitimacy of the judiciary has become even more difficult to establish, and the balance of power among the different legal professions has shifted. Last, but not least, the model of what makes for a “good” judge and “good” justice is in the process of being redefined.