Out-Law News 4 min. read
Judge endorses remote hearings during coronavirus crisis
08 Apr 2020, 2:03 pm
Remote hearings should continue to take place during the coronavirus crisis to “deliver fair, open and transparent justice”, a senior judge in England and Wales has said.
Sir Geoffrey Vos, Chancellor of the High Court, said that while measures to curb the spread of coronavirus, officially Covid-19, mean hearings cannot generally proceed in a physical court room at the moment, it is important for hearings to proceed remotely.
Experts at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law, believe the lessons learned from remote hearings held during the Covid-19 lockdown could encourage more proceedings to be conducted remotely in future after the current restrictions on people’s movement are lifted.
Sir Geoffrey made his comments after he and two fellow judges, Lord Justice Newey and Lord Justice Males, presided over a recent Court of Appeal case heard entirely remotely via video technology platform Skype for Business.
Daniel Gardiner
Partner
It is likely that this will drive change in the post-Covid-19 world in circumstances where it may be disproportionate for all parties located around the world to be physically present
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