Britain's courts lurch towards Skype and conference calls for trials as COVID-19 distancing kicks in
- Reference: 1584979445
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/23/courts_coronavirus_conference_calling_clarity/
- Source link:
As the UK struggles to get to grips with government advice to go home, stay home and only leave those four walls for truly essential journeys, Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service has told lawyers and judges that they need to starting using Skype instead of trudging into cramped and dirty court buildings.
In a statement, the MoJ [1]said : "We have put in place arrangements to use telephone, video and other technology to continue as many hearings as possible remotely. We will make best possible use of the equipment currently available; and are working nonstop to update and add to that."
£1bn Brit court digitisation scheme would be great ... if Wi-Fi situation wasn't 'wholly inadequate' [2]READ MORE
The coronavirus outbreak has sped up HMCTS's [3]existing and controversial £1.2bn plans to replace criminal trials with video conference calls. Those plans have been delayed amid the usual public sector overspending and inefficiencies, with MPs criticising what little progress has been made so far [4]in a report published in November .
HMCTS currently has three main video conferencing systems for courtroom use: the Justice Video Service, which was a secure(ish) system intended to be used between fixed endpoints such as prisons and Crown courts; BT Meet Me, its approved audio conferencing system; and Skype for Business, which is intended to be used by judges on their HMCTS-issue laptops.
"To give us more quick and flexible capacity, we have also activated Skype for Business on all staff and judicial laptops,” said HMCTS’ online [5]guidance . “This change took effect today (18 March) and work is underway to train staff and judges as quickly as possible, as well as testing the technology to ensure it works for users. We expect to start using this at scale very soon.”
However, conference calls present a problem for the open justice principle, the century-old notion that anyone can walk in off the street to sit in a courtroom's public gallery and watch justice taking place. The court service would only say: "Public galleries in court rooms will remain open to public access, and dedicated press seats will continue to allow journalists to report on hearings."
Ian Murray of the Society of Editors, representing national newspaper editors, warned: "Where possible, the media should be enabled to listen remotely and HMCTS should continue to extend the use of telephone, video and other technology to maintain access."
All new jury trials have been halted on the order of the Lord Chief Justice, the top judge of England and Wales, while it looks likely that civil courts will shift to video and phone hearings instead of assembling in county courts and the High Court's two main London buildings.
As a sign of how far standards are already slipping in Britain's highly small-c conservative courts thanks to video tech, Lord Justice Fulford, vice-president of the Court of Appeal's criminal division, said in a [6]statement to barristers: "Advocates linking remotely need not 'rise' when the court assembles etc."
The Register will be test-driving some of the new open justice measures for the press in two cases of interest due to be heard over the next 10 days.
Meanwhile, across the pond, US federal judges all over the country are having to balance "access to justice with public health concerns as COVID-19 spreads," [7]Law360 reports . It opined that the "caseload crisis could outlive the pandemic." US district judge Denise Page Booth, chief judge of the Eastern District of Michigan, told the legal newswire: "This is just an extraordinary time... When Hurricane Katrina hit, for example, we could move criminals to other jurisdictions. We don't have that
now
. This is pervasive across our whole country." ®[1] https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-courts-and-tribunals-planning-and-preparation
[2] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/01/mps_slam_tech_behind_1bn_court_modernisation_programme/
[3] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/09/courting_disaster_watchdog_slams_hmcts_digitisation_plans/
[4] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/01/mps_slam_tech_behind_1bn_court_modernisation_programme/
[5] https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hmcts-telephone-and-video-hearings-during-coronavirus-outbreak
[6] https://mailchi.mp/criminalbar.com/coaljf-205657?e=8228c4ff10
[7] https://www.law360.com/access-to-justice/articles/1255253/covid-19-leaves-backlogged-courts-with-a-justice-pile-up
Is your lawsuit really necessary?
I understand that, in the civil courts, judges are hastily being trained in the use of Microsoft Teams and there is a lot of pressure to use e-mail and phone calls for case management - and even for "hearings" if possible.
There [1]remains a problem with block lists where a bunch of cases are scheduled to run consecutively on the same day, each one starting as the previous one finishes. The lack of precise scheduling means large numbers of people hanging around waiting for their case to be called.
Courts are also encouraging potential litigants to reflect on whether the court is the best place to resolve their dispute, especially given the economic turmoil that may render any outcome moot.
[1] https://nearlylegal.co.uk/2020/03/of-civil-courts-and-public-crisis/
Skype for Business?
Sounds about right really. What better time to install a new system than when it's being deprecated!
Could use Teams Live events for the public side of things... Up to 10,000 public and anonymous viewers
Ok boomer, here's the future!
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/22/joe-biden-seen-publicly-6-minutes-last-8-days/
During a call with reporters on Friday, he said he plans to be more visible in the coming weeks.
“They tell me there’s ways we can do teleconferencing via us all being in different locations,” he said.
Ah, politics. I'm starting to feel sorry for the US in the upcoming election cycle. In other news, this raises interesting judicial questions, like the right to a fair and ideally prompt trial. Especially given the news that the trial of the accused in the death of a police officer has been suspended in Reading due to jurors being sick.
I guess block lists might hasten their demise, so for example one common one being the good'ol UK TV licence lists. For those, AFAIK a lot of people don't bother attending, but could hasten reforms especially as UK's looking to decriminalise or reform the licence fee anyway.
https://jitsi.org/
I have been playing with Jitsi - free, open source, trusted -- Skype goes via Microsoft servers. No special software needed - just a web browser; most devices have camera & microphone these days.
HMCS should set up something like this.
Improved access to justice
I think it's generally appreciated that one of the reasons top QCs are so expensive is their court performance - they know how to put on a show and it is often tailored to the judge in question.
Video and phone conferencing is going to have a dramatic effect in levelling the playing field and allow more junior lawyers to show what they can do with straight argument based on the evidence.
In the long term it could be beneficial given the way that deep pockets can currently improve outcomes - which is why people will spend the money. Like the famous case in which the Guardian had to race to beat the plaintiff to Carter-Ruck over alleged libel.
Re: Improved access to justice
Why on earth would the performance not be transferred to the conference call, I'm sure the QCs voice can be made to sound more sincere & serious, the face more trustworthy, the lighting more flattering.
Just like any TV production in fact. (not like last years BBC mumbleathons)
All it takes
For the legal system to drag itself out of the 18 th C is a pandemic with the worst affected being elderly.
To be serious for a moment though, in the long term everyone being in the same courtroom needs to remain the default position, the current exceptions have been instituted carefully and normally someone has their liberty is at risk.
I was at a magistrates court this morning and I overheard a conversation where a man was discussing who would cover this area and who would cover outer areas as from tomorrow they will only be dealing with custody cases. (cases where they are already in prison or at police station and brought to the court)
Trial
by Television ?