A contingent of Mongolian judges paid a visit to the Broward Courthouse on Thursday to get a glimpse of the American justice system at work as they prepare for changes to their own system back home.

Nine judges — three men and six women — toured the courthouse and the jury assembly room, sat in on First Appearance court presided over by County Judge John Fry, watched a lawyer question a witness in a medical malpractice case before Broward Circuit Judge Patti Englander-Henning and met with a handful of judges in the chambers of Chief Administrative Judge Peter Weinstein.

“Next year, new laws in our court system will go into effect,” said Dolgorsuren Namgil, head of foreign relations for the Mongolian Supreme Court, who served as an interpreter between the judges and their South Florida hosts.

She explained that the justice system in Mongolia, bordered by Russia and China, is structured in three basic tiers – a First Instance court tries the cases, there is one level of appeals court, and there is a national Supreme Court. Next year, the country will attempt to implement a circuit court system more similar to the type seen in Florida.

Thursday”s visit was the fourth by a group of Mongolian judges in the past three years.