The Supreme Court of South Carolina

Re: Annual Mandatory Criminal Domestic Violence Training for Summary Court Judges

ORDER

Pursuant to South Carolina Code of Laws, 16 25 100, magistrates and municipal court judges shall receive continuing legal education on issues concerning domestic violence. The frequency and content of the continuing legal education is to be determined by South Carolina Court Administration at the direction of the Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court. In order to fulfill this requirement, each magistrate or municipal court judge shall attend at least one seminar approved by South Carolina Court Administration annually.

In the past, the Court has required that this training requirement be met during each calendar year. However, in an effort to simplify the tracking of this requirement, beginning in 2008, this requirement shall be met during the same reporting period as the summary court judges continuing educational requirements, which are reported on a fiscal year basis (July 1st to June 30th) each year. Therefore, between January 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009, all magistrate and municipal court judges must attend one approved domestic violence training which may be included in their continuing education credits for either the 2007-2008 or the 2008-2009 fiscal year. Thereafter, approved domestic violence training must be obtained during each training fiscal year.

THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that, between January 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009, all magistrate and municipal court judges must attend at least one domestic violence seminar approved by South Carolina Court Administration. Thereafter, all magistrate and municipal court judges must attend at least one domestic violence seminar approved by South Carolina Court Administration during each training fiscal year. Any individual who serves as both a magistrate and municipal court judge shall only be required to attend one seminar.

This Order is effective immediately and remains in effect unless amended or revoked by further order of the Chief Justice.

January 31, 2008
Columbia, South Carolina