‘Protocol regarding remote hearings’, published by the judiciary of England and Wales on 20 March, is a four-page document applicable to hearings of all kinds, including trials, applications and those in which litigants in person are involved in the county court, High Court and Court of Appeal, including the business and property courts. The guidance says it ‘should be applied flexibly’.
While it is ‘inevitable that undertaking numerous hearings remotely will cause teething troubles’, all parties are ‘urged to be sympathetic to the technological and other difficulties experienced by others’.
The protocol sets out legal issues to be addressed before the hearing begins, including how it is to be recorded and how it can be made public, for example, through live streaming or by allowing accredited journalists to log in to the remote hearing. The protocol states: ‘The principle of open justice remains paramount.’
It addresses what should happen once a hearing is fixed, the preparation for it and the procedure.
Parties are asked to keep their court bundles concise. It states: ‘Electronic bundles should contain only documents and authorities that are essential to the remote hearing. Large electronic files can be slow to transmit and unwieldy to use.’
See the protocol at: www.judiciary.uk/publications/civil-court-guidance-on-how-to-conduct-remote-hearings.
