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Judges confer online, across jurisdictions, on virus

The latest Courts Service newsletter details the rapid acceleration in use of technology as a result of the pandemic.

A total of 2.095 virtual court hearings were heard between April and December last year, while there were 10,754 video calls from courts to prison, from March to November.

Nine full video-enabled courts were built, with six new sites and three refreshed courtrooms.

A total of seven “pop-up” courts were held last year at external locations, while 28 courtrooms had additional video equipment deployed to facilitate social distancing.

Ten mobile jury empanelment solutions were built and used across nine locations nationwide.

Seminar

December meanwhile saw the bilateral seminar take place online between the judiciaries of the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The judges in the top courts in each jurisdiction of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England and Wales discussed how the pandemic had impacted in terms of legislative responses, and constitutional and commercial law considerations that had arisen. 

Chief Justice Frank Clarke commented that the importance of such engagements, and the ability to exchange information, cannot be underestimated.

“This co-operation greatly assisted our courts in its own response to the pandemic,” he said.