LexisNexis: Remote hearings in private client law

The interview piece offers practical advice on the issue, for example, WhatsApp groups are their preferred medium for solicitors instructing counsel.

Hughes and Eagling explain that all parties and witnesses must have access to the technology being used and advise against ‘pushing reluctant litigants in person into using technology against their will’. Skype for Business is the most commonly used medium but there are issues in that it is no longer being supported by Microsoft, they say.

‘Almost all interim or directions hearings are suitable for remote hearings,’ they explain.

‘This includes interim injunctions, and hearings to put in place statutory “holding” wills in the Court of Protection.’ Not all hearings with live evidence will be suitable, however, particularly those with large amounts of documentary evidence to be cross-examined or where there is a challenge to witness creditability.

‘We would not want to try to prove a will forgery or testamentary undue influence via video link,’ Hughes and Eagling say.

‘In our view a judge is less likely to find a forgery, other fraud or lies when he or she has not seen the witness in person.’