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COVID-19: Remote control

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16 April 2020 / Philip Barden
Issue: 7884 / Categories: Features , Covid-19 , Profession
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Embracing remote access to the courts will see us all benefit, says Philip Barden
  • COVID-19: a new world.
  • Engaging with courts remotely.
  • The rise of remote working and virtual firms. 

Lawyers across the country are having to hastily adapt to a new world as the Covid-19 pandemic sees us told not go to court in an effort to halt the spread of the virus.

Following the introduction of stringent restrictions on movement, lawyers in England and Wales should no longer attend court unless ‘strictly necessary’ with guidance from the Bar Council, Criminal Bar Association (CBA), and regional circuits stating the only exception should be urgent hearings, where remote access is not available.

The last few weeks has seen more and more court hearings take place with judges and one or more parties attending using remote access arrangements and even the Supreme Court has shut down, conducting its first case entirely by video conference.

For most of us, these changes mean we are having to adapt

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