{"id":9741,"date":"2017-08-05T15:06:38","date_gmt":"2017-08-05T15:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/?p=9741"},"modified":"2019-04-17T17:17:11","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T17:17:11","slug":"judge-spearheading-late-night-courts-confronts-the-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/judge-spearheading-late-night-courts-confronts-the-critics\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge spearheading late-night courts confronts the critics"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The senior judge in charge of modernising the courts service has hit out at \u2018ill-informed comments\u2019 from lawyers and \u2018misunderstandings\u2019 about controversial plans to test out-of-hours courts.<\/p>\n

In a letter despatched over the weekend, Lord Justice Fulford sets out to \u2018demystify\u2019 the flexible hours courts pilot, insisting the plans are \u2019not a disguised attempt to persuade, or force\u2026 legal professionals and others to spend more time at court than they do at present\u2019. The letter was sent to all judges via the judicial intranet and the Law Society and Bar Council, a spokesman for HM Judiciary said.<\/p>\n

Court sessions will be split so as to enable a longer court day – but populated by different people, the judge says.<\/p>\n

Last week HM Courts & Tribunal Service confirmed details<\/a> of the new pilot, to take place over six months from this autumn.\u00a0Six courts have been selected, as was mooted back in March before the testing was put back by the general election. The plans are proving highly controversial, with the Criminal Bar Association pledging<\/a> to support barristers who refuse to participate in the \u2019fundamentally flawed\u2019 scheme.<\/p>\n

\u2019In my capacity as the Judge in Charge of Reform, and in light of public comments \u2013 particularly from members of the legal profession \u2013 I thought it would be helpful to attempt to demystify the proposed Flexible Operating Hours Pilots,\u2019 Fulford writes. \u2019I regret the extent of the widely-broadcast misunderstandings and ill-informed comments from a range of sources.<\/p>\n

\u2019The Judicial Executive Board has discussed the proposed pilots on a number of occasions. It is vital that we improve the use of the courts and tribunals\u2019 estate. We already struggle to maintain our buildings and it is hard to justify spending scarce funds on courts and tribunals that are not adequately utilised. We must use our assets to the greatest possible (but always sensible) extent, without asking anyone to work longer hours than at present.\u2019<\/p>\n

Fulford acknowledges concerns raised by lawyers about the impact of flexible hours on diversity in the professions and how they will work. But he adds: \u2019We have listened to these concerns, but the whole point of running the pilots is to test fully all the concerns expressed. We approach this project with an entirely open mind as to whether flexible operating hours is a viable goal.<\/p>\n

\u2019If it works it works; if it doesn\u2019t, it doesn\u2019t\u2026a significant, detrimental impact on diversity in the professions is not a price judges are willing to pay.\u2019<\/p>\n

Fulford notes that previous initiatives testing flexible court sittings have failed. But he stresses that lawyers are now operating in a \u2018radically altered world\u2019 in which \u2019digital and IT changes are transforming the opportunities for moving cases readily between judges, advocates and venues far more readily than in yesteryear, and there is a marked improvement in our preparedness to operate outside jurisdictional silos\u2019.<\/p>\n

The project team has developed an \u2018Invitation To Tender\u2019 to secure experts in independent evaluation.<\/p>\n

Fulford stresses that there are no plans for a national rollout, concluding: \u2019If the ideas [the pilots] explore do not pass muster, then they will fade into history at the end of the six-month period. However, if any of the models succeed, we will consider with HMCTS the circumstances in which we may repeat the relevant arrangements on a more regular basis.\u2019<\/p>\n

Law Society president Joe Egan commented: \u2019Fees for criminal legal aid work were frozen in cash terms for more than 20 years, and then substantially cut. Criminal legal aid practices already operate at little or no profit. Under this new government plan solicitors would be expected to attend court during unsocial hours for no uplift in pay. Firms would have to pay out additional staff costs without any compensation. It is not acceptable to operate a pilot without paying solicitors properly for the additional cost they will incur as a result.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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The senior judge in charge of modernising the courts service has hit out at \u2018ill-informed comments\u2019 from lawyers and \u2018misunderstandings\u2019 about controversial plans to test out-of-hours courts. In a letter despatched over the weekend, Lord Justice Fulford sets out to \u2018demystify\u2019 the flexible hours courts pilot, insisting the plans are \u2019not a disguised attempt to … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Judge spearheading late-night courts confronts the critics”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nJudge spearheading late-night courts confronts the critics - Dominic Levent Solicitors Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/judge-spearheading-late-night-courts-confronts-the-critics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Judge spearheading late-night courts confronts the critics - Dominic Levent Solicitors Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The senior judge in charge of modernising the courts service has hit out at \u2018ill-informed comments\u2019 from lawyers and \u2018misunderstandings\u2019 about controversial plans to test out-of-hours courts. 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