Remote hearings helped keep the wheels of justice turning during the pandemic and beyond, though not without the odd hiccup – which will be all too familiar to Gazette readers.

‘You appear to be on mute’ remains the classic of the genre (even after two years of practice) while dodgy internet connections, which slow submissions to a crawl before they abruptly rattle along at double-speed, are guilty of many a delay in proceedings.

Fortunately, remote hearing regulars know that most IT issues can be resolved with the time-honoured solution: ‘Turn it off and on again’. Even some High Court judges have got the hang of that one…

But there have been more unusual disruptions, such as the time Mr Justice Lewis (as he then was) had to answer the door to a delivery of bundles for his next case or when Sir James Eadie QC was referred to in, er, colourful terms by someone whose microphone probably should not have been on.

Obiter has seen several judges distracted by their pets: Mr Justice Mostyn had to briefly go off camera to silence a persistent pooch with a biscuit during one of the very first remote hearings, while Mr Justice Julian Knowles’ miaowing moggy made an appearance on screen last year.

Judge Jonathan Richards, however, may have notched a first this week with his initial appearance on day one of a £65m negligence trial in the High Court under what turned out to be his daughter’s name, to lawyerly chuckling from the virtual bar. The solution? Why, log out and log back in again, of course!

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