Rapid Consultation: The impact of COVID-19 measures on the civil justice system

Sun,3 May 2020
News Equality & Rights

The Civil Justice Council (CJC) has commissioned an independent review led by Dr Natalie Byrom, Director of Research at The Legal Education Foundation with the support of a wider virtual working group, to gather feedback on the impact of COVID measures on the civil justice system.

The CJC is an Advisory Public Body with responsibility for overseeing and co-ordinating the modernisation of the civil justice system.

The review will run for two weeks from Friday 1 May to Friday 15 May in order to report by 22 May 2020.

The aim of the review is to provide an overview of the operation of current measures and offer practical recommendations to inform the ongoing response to COVID.

It will concentrate on the experience and reaction of court users. It will also provide useful ground work for any future wider review of the use of remote hearings, identifying areas where further evidence may be needed.

The review is particularly interested in gathering feedback from court users in response to the following questions:

  • What is working well about the current arrangements?
  • Which types of cases are most suited to which type of hearings and why?
  • How does the experience of remote hearings vary depending on the platform that is used?
  • What technology is needed to make remote hearings successful?
  • What difference does party location make to the experience of the hearing?
  • How do remote hearings impact on the ability of representatives to communicate with their clients?
  • How do professional court users and litigants feel about remote hearings?
  • How do litigants in person experience hearings that are conducted remotely?
  • How do remote hearings impact on perceptions of the justice system by those who are users of it?
  • How is practice varying across different geographical regions?
  • What has been the impact of current arrangements on open justice?

Full details of the review and three ways to participate are available from  judiciary.uk

If you have any other feedback you would like to raise, or would prefer to contribute by email, or telephone please email: consultation@theLEF.org