Court premieres first video-link hearing

VIDEO CONFERENCING: London, Leeds, Cardiff in pilot

For the first time ever in a civil court, a judgement was delivered via an ISDN line last week to launch a video-conferencing pilot scheme at the Royal Courts of Justice.Lord Justice North, sitting in the Court of Appeal in London, heard an application for permission to appeal by barrister Alistair Wright, who was speaking from a video-conferencing suite in Leeds Combined Court.Video conferencing is already in use on an ad hoc basis in the criminal courts.

Under the pilot taking place in London, Cardiff and Leeds, people involved in a civil case can choose to make submissions or give evidence by video-link.

It will also support other civil justice reforms, such as allowing some court hearings of family ancillary relief cases to be heard via video-link.

Leeds Combined Court and Cardiff Civil Justice Centre will also test out other uses of video conferencing in civil, criminal, High Court and tribunal cases.Should the pilot prove as successful as hoped, video-conferencing will be implemented throughout the civil justice system.

Court Service chief Ian Magee said video-conferencing will reduce costs and speed up cases, avoiding the need for parties to travel long distances for hearings.

Last week's hearing, however, was delayed for an hour due to technical problems.

Melanie Farran, a partner at the Leeds office of Russell Jones & Walker, said her barrister had found using a video-link 'less intimidating' than attending in person.

Rowland Byass