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Five judges in High Court pilot project

The President of the High Court has given further details of plans for a pilot project aimed at providing more flexibility during the courts’ long vacation, which runs through August and September.

Mr Justice Barniville said that the project, which will run in the High Court this summer, would involve five judges.

It will cover three case lists:

• Family
• Non-jury, judicial review, and asylum and immigration, and
• Planning and environment.

The project, announced initially last December, follows a report from the Judicial Planning Working Group (JPWG) last year that recommended that consideration should be given to staggering the long vacation.

September sittings

Under the plan, the long vacation for the five judges involved will be July and August 2024. They will then sit as normal from Monday 2 September 2024.

All other High Court judges will continue to operate subject to existing long-vacation arrangements in August and September.

In the family lists, one judge will sit in July, while one judge will sit in September. Mr Justice Barniville’s notice states that the frequency of different lists within the ‘family’ category in July and September has yet to be determined.

Two High Court judges will sit in September in the list covering non-jury, judicial review, and asylum/immigration cases.

One judge will sit in the planning-and-environment list in July, while two will sit in that list in September.

Further consultations

Mr Justice Barniville says that there will be further consultations with interested parties and bodies to ensure that the arrangements for the pilot project will operate “as smoothly, fairly, and efficiently as possible for everyone involved”.

Further details of the arrangements will be published in the Legal Diary in due course for the participating lists.

The President of the High Court says that, while the details are subject to “some possible further refinement and modifications”, practitioners should plan on the basis that the arrangements outlined yesterday (5 March) will be those operating this summer.