The courts are sitting as normal, with judges taking a pragmatic and flexible approach to hearings. However, cases are bound to be postponed and disrupted by self-isolation.
In a message to criminal practitioners this week, CBA chair Caroline Goodwin QC said: ‘The number one priority for us and for you is your health and safety whilst attending court or engaging with members of the public.
‘Please have in mind at all times the advice of local government officials and health authorities. Do not compromise your health. If at any stage you are not in a position or feel that that you cannot perform your job, you must follow the guidelines about self-isolation or other timely advice that will be published.’
Goodwin said she was inviting the Crown prosecution Service (CPS) and Legal Aid Agency to take the ‘unprecedented step’ of allowing counsel to bill for work done.
‘This is a crisis and in simple terms cashflow is essential,’ she said.
‘We recognise that advances in payment is both a complex and frankly time-consuming ask but it will be a lifeline for so many practitioners. We must be able to submit bills where hearings have been conducted.
‘We cannot sit and wait for a trial to be concluded in the way that we do presently and given that the predictions are that this is going to go on for some time, the backlog will no doubt become acute and so we will need timely payments.’
The latest update from HM Courts and Tribunals (HMCTS) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is that business continues and any changes to individual hearings will be communicated directly to those affected in the normal way, usually by email or phone. Anyone who needs to self-isolate, in line with NHS advice, should contact the court or tribunal in which the hearing is due to take place.
Judges can consider audio or video links where, for example, a defendant does not need to attend in person an application to appeal refusal of bail in the crown court, or in preliminary and enforcement hearings.
