A report has now been published in relation to the virtual Civil Justice Conference held last month to discuss how civil court business might be conducted once the current pandemic is over.
The conference, organised by the Judicial Institute for Scotland on the request of the Lord President, Lord Carloway, was attended by 240 people from the media, judiciary, legal profession, and public.
It provided a forum for discussion amongst interested parties about how civil business in the Court of Session and the sheriff courts might be managed using virtual and in-person hearings.
A new page “Civil Business Post COVID 19” has been created on the scotcourts website to host the conference publications and will be updated to include any future related documents such as consultations or papers.
The conference documents now available include a report on what the speakers said on the day along with their associated papers and a video provided by Professor Richard Susskind. The results of three surveys conducted by the Judicial Institute, the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland seeking responses from the judiciary and the professions are also published.
The Lord President introduced the conference, describing it as “a focal point for beginning to consider the central question of what Covid-instigated methods of working should be retained and/or improved and which pre-Covid procedures, notably the in person hearing, should be reinstated.”