A.  Introduction

In 1971, upon the conclusion of my university studies and my first state examination, and before sitting for my second (final) state examination, I commenced my practi­cal train­ing as a so-called Referen­dar at the Amts­ge­richt (local district court) in Gettorf, near Kiel.  It was a very small court, employing only one judge who was re­sponsible in this position for all legal cases. In addi­tion, a total of approximately 20 other employees were working there. The court had no electric typewriter, and no copying machine. When a copy had to be made, the docu­ment was literally tran­scribed in the true sense of the word. Later, after my second and final state examination, I start­ed my services as a judge at the Land­ge­richt (regional court) in Bremen, a court with approximately 60 judges and a total of approximate­ly 200 employees. It was not a matter of course that each judge had a tele­phone of his/her own. Moreover, connec­tions to the out­side world were fre­quently only possible through the gene­ral telephone ex­change. One office had to be sha­red by several judges. Dictat­ing machines were avai­lable, but not taken for granted. On the contra­ry, as a rule it was the usual practice for a clerk to take the minutes—even in cases for which the Code of Procedu­re did not specifically require this.

Today, the Landgericht in Lübeck, of which I am now the president, not only provides a dicta­ting machine and a telephone to each judge who has their own office, but each office is also equipped with IT technology. Each judge's PC is linked up to their secretary's office, facilitating access to legal databases and the Internet in gene­ral. This allows communication with the outside world by e-mail and, for example, the ability to easily send this paper to Tokyo or Toronto.

These are developments of which we are often not consci­­ously aware, and yet they show how external factors have affected the working conditions of the...