courts

Could the innovative approach set out below bring justice back to some of those key rural service centres from which it has been increasingly withdrawn over the last decade? This article tells us:

“Pop-up” courts with easily transportable judicial stage sets, remote video screens and online access are needed to develop a more flexible justice system, according to a leading legal thinktank.

Although successive waves of court closures have been triggered by austerity cutbacks, the organisation Justice says the disruption provides an opportunity to forge a more digitally focused approach.

Cuts to legal aid have produced a steep rise in the number of litigants in person, particularly in the civil and family courts, reinforcing the need for user-friendly procedures that are no longer entirely reliant on expensive legal experts.

The Ministry of Justice has committed to investing more than £700m in updating antiquated working procedures and the replacing the bundles of paper that still dominate most court cases – although Natalie Ceeney, the chief executive of HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS), overseeing the modernisation programme, unexpectedly resigned this month.

“Through innovation, the justice system could be made more affordable and accessible to ordinary people, with appropriate and proportionate modes of dispute resolution available to all,” the Justice report, entitled What is a Court?, argues.

The existing court and tribunal estate costs the taxpayer an estimated £500m a year to run. Some buildings, the report says, are “trapped in a time warp, intimidating and deeply unwelcoming to court users”.