Remote hearings “can bring horror into your home”, says judge – Legal Futures

Posted October 19th, 2020 in coronavirus, families, family courts, judges, news, remote hearings by sally

‘A particularly unwelcome issue for judges hearing cases remotely is that some of the most disturbing elements of serious family cases are being heard at home, a High Court judge reported last week.’

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Legal Futures, 19th October 2020

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Remote hearing success means no backlog in some family courts – Legal Futures

Posted October 15th, 2020 in coronavirus, delay, family courts, news, remote hearings by tracey

‘The family court system has adapted so well to remote working that some courts do not have a backlog of cases, the president of the Family Division said yesterday.’

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Legal Futures, 15th October 2020

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Lord Sumption: justice faces digital trade-off – Law Society’s Gazette

‘The court system faces a trade-off between the quality of justice and the cost of delivering it, former Supreme Court justice Lord Sumption has said in a biting assessment of virtual hearings. Speaking at the Commercial Litigators’ Forum, Lord Sumption (Jonathan Sumption QC) said if quality of justice was the only concern “we would go back to ordinary oral hearings.” ‘

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Law Society's Gazette, 5th October 2020

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

The impact of digitalisation on the immigration process – EIN Blog

‘The coronavirus pandemic created an impetus for the legal world to finally begin accepting digitalisation of processes, moving away from the traditional paper process to an online version. The immigration process is already faced with a myriad of concerns which leaves the applicant in a weak position, and most often, with a lack of funds to cover their costs. The Home Office’s inability to train and effectively manage applications, outsource services to dubious third-party contractors has been exacerbated further by the haphazard application of online processes which do not match the needs of the immigration process. Despite the fact that online applications are easier to complete for legal representatives a number of issues have arisen as a result of this sudden change.’

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EIN Blog, 21st September 2020

Source: www.ein.org.uk

Virtual hearings deny young lawyers “huge amount” of training – Litigation Futures

‘A High Court judge has voiced concerns that young solicitors and barristers are missing out on a “huge amount” of training because of virtual hearings.’

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Litigation Futures, 8th September 2020

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Judge highlights open justice benefits of telephone hearings – Litigation Futures

Posted September 7th, 2020 in bail, coronavirus, extradition, judges, news, remote hearings, telephone hearings by sally

‘There is “a lot to be said” for telephone, rather than video, hearings from the perspective of open justice and parties should bear this in mind when deciding how to proceed, a High Court judge has said.’

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Litigation Futures, 4th September 2020

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Judges issues guidance to experts on remote evidence – Litigation Futures

Posted September 3rd, 2020 in evidence, expert witnesses, news, remote hearings by sally

‘A panel of top judges has issued guidance for expert witnesses on giving evidence remotely, which warns that “processing information through online contact is hard”.’

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Litigation Futures, 3rd September 2020

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Mother and grandparents win appeal over interim care orders – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal by a mother and the maternal grandparents against interim care orders made in respect of three children, saying the transcript of the hearing before the recorder “demonstrates once again the difficulties facing courts required to conduct hearings remotely because of the restrictions imposed as a result of the pandemic”.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 24th August 2020

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Has the revolution happened? Can we ever go back? – Transparency Project

‘The Lord Chief Justice called it “the biggest pilot project that the justice system has ever seen” and said “there will be no going back to February 2020”. Remote court hearings would have come sooner or later, but thanks to Covid-19 they came at us fast, in March 2020, and it looks like they’re here to stay. Ironically, they were one of the things the massive £1bn court modernisation programme was supposed to have developed, but when it came to the crunch HMCTS wasn’t quite ready so there was “the most extraordinary scramble”, said Professor Hazel Genn, to find solutions that worked.’

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Transparency Project, 25th August 2020

Source: www.transparencyproject.org.uk

City giant self-reports to SRA after trial streamed live on Zoom – Law Society’s Gazette

‘A City firm which disobeyed a court order and allowed a libel trial to be live streamed to clients abroad has reported itself to the regulator.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 7th August 2020

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Top judge slates firm over trial live-stream breach – Legal Futures

‘The president of the Queen’s Bench Division has strongly criticised lawyers in the London office of US firm McDermott Will & Emery (MWE) after they allowed a trial to be live-streamed to observers outside the UK without the court’s permission.’

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Legal Futures, 7th August 2020

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Another recusal refusal – but this time the Court of Appeal steps in – Transparency Project

‘In the second such case in a month, a judge has refused to recuse herself at the request of a litigant, but on this occasion the Court of Appeal has reversed that decision and ordered that she step down from the case and let another judge take over.’

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Transparency Project, 3rd August 2020

Source: www.transparencyproject.org.uk

SCCO will use remote hearings more once back to normal – Litigation Futures

Posted July 31st, 2020 in coronavirus, costs, courts, electronic filing, news, remote hearings by sally

‘Video and phone hearings are set to become a permanent feature of the Senior Courts Costs Office (SCCO) even after the coronavirus pandemic has passed, the Senior Costs Judge has said.’

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Litigation Futures, 30th July 2020

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Family Law Newsletter – Spire Barristers

‘Issue #35 of Spire Barristers’ Family Law Newsletter: edited by Connie Purdy and Taz Irshad; news and Case Reviews by Georgina Dalton.’

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Spire Barristers, 22nd July 2020

Source: spirebarristers.co.uk

‘Deepfake’ warning over online courts – Legal Futures

‘Video manipulation software, including ‘deepfake’ technology, poses problems for remote courts in verifying evidence and that litigants or witnesses are who they say they are, a report has warned.’

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Legal Futures, 29th July 2020

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Judge removed from child welfare case over ‘pejorative’ remarks about mother – The Guardian

Posted July 28th, 2020 in bias, family courts, judges, news, remote hearings by sally

‘A high court judge has been taken off a case centred on the care of a child after “pejorative comments” she made about the child’s mother were accidentally broadcast to people taking part in a hearing remotely.’

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The Guardian, 25th July 2020

Source: www.theguardian.com

Guidance for litigants in person on remote hearings in the Family Court – Resolution

‘With the advent of the global pandemic hearings in the Family Court are increasingly being held remotely by telephone or on video conferencing software. This guide is designed to help you through the process and includes helpful information on how to prepare for the hearing, how to join a hearing and what to do during the hearing.’

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Resolution, 14th July 2020

Source: https://resolution.org.uk/

COVID 19: an update on remote hearings and making them effective – 3PB

Posted July 8th, 2020 in chambers articles, civil justice, coronavirus, news, remote hearings by sally

‘Much has been written about the dramatic decrease in civil hearings as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic. A survey conducted by Kate Brunner QC and I for the Western Circuit showed a 75% decrease in the number of hearings and a 58% reduction in work done by the Bar.’

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3PB, 6th July 2020

Source: www.3pb.co.uk

Vos: Crisis must be followed by “blue sky thinking” – Litigation Futures

Posted July 7th, 2020 in civil justice, coronavirus, dispute resolution, news, remote hearings by sally

‘The Chancellor of the High Court has said “the one thing” he really wants to come out of the coronavirus crisis is “blue sky thinking” about how to improve commercial dispute resolution.’

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Litigation Futures, 7th July 2020

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

New video platform to be rolled out across civil courts – Litigation Futures

‘The new video platform enabling more remote cases to be heard in the criminal courts will rolled out to the civil courts over the coming months, the Ministry of Justice confirmed yesterday.’

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Litigation Futures, 2nd July 2020

Source: www.litigationfutures.com