Should Freedom Day Have Marked The End Of Remote Hearings?

Covid-19 has impacted everyone globally and has forced us to adapt for the safety of everyone. The UK Courts like everyone has also been affected by the pandemic and have adapted dramatically to ensure that the Judicial system could continue without interruption.

This has led to many remote hearings being held, whether by telephone or a form of video call, which has enabled the Judicial system to continue smoothly throughout the pandemic. But are these new methods a way forward or now that Freedom Day has passed, should the Court consider a return to the usual norms of Court hearings taking place inside the Courtroom?

Anyone regularly dealing with the Court will have noticed Covid-19 has caused significant delays, whether that be due to the initial backlog whilst adapting, the increased number of cases being brought to Court or, the lack of available staff. The introduction of remote hearings has helped reduce the backlog and could allow for hearings to be dealt with more efficiently moving forward. This begs the question of:

Should remote hearings continue to take place or should there be a return to in-Court hearings?

The advantages of remote hearings

There are many advantages to remote hearings. The main being that people are able to attend from their own home or office and the removal of travel time can be used towards the preparation of the hearing. This enables legal representatives to manage cases more efficiently and for laypersons, causes minimal disruption to their life and livelihood. There are, however, disadvantages that tend to mostly affect laypersons and, in some cases, outweigh the advantages of remote hearings.

The disadvantages of remote hearings

Remote hearings take away immediate access to the Courts’ clerks as all correspondence is through email or telephone in which there will be a delay in responding or getting through. This can be very frustrating for individuals in need of support and in urgent circumstances, can result in missing a hearing. The lack of support can also lead to people not familiar with the process feeling lost in the hearings and becoming unable to properly voice their arguments.

Further to this, remote hearings also take away the emotion from a case to a degree, as people’s emotions cannot as easily be picked up through a video call and even less so during telephone hearings. This frustration has recently been vented across social media and people have expressed a disappointment in not having their claim properly heard, demonstrating remote hearings are felt to downplay a person’s claim, and this lack of access may be putting off users.

Comment

From experience, and what appears to be the Court’s new favoured approach, a combination of the both could be a solution to deal with cases effectively and efficiently. This would be by Court’s holding substantial hearings in Courtrooms and procedural hearings remotely. This allows the facts of the claim to be properly heard in Court and allows support to be provided where needed.

It is important to note that the Court are open to changing the format of a hearing after it has been listed if the circumstances deem it necessary.