The Law Society Gazette said Friday… Over half of court and tribunal buildings are to close during the coronavirus pandemic to reduce the risk of court users spreading the infection, the government announced this morning.
A priority network of 158 court buildings will remain open for essential face-to-face hearings. This represents 43% of the 371 Crown, magistrates’ and family courts across England and Wales. A further 124 court and tribunal buildings, which are conducting hearings remotely, will remain closed to the public but open to HM Courts & Tribunal staff and the judiciary.
The Ministry of Justice said the temporary changes, designed in partnership with HMCTS and the judiciary, will ‘help maintain a core justice system focused on the most essential cases’. It added that the closures will ensure effective social distancing for all court users and for cleaning and security work to be focused on fewer buildings.
Lord chancellor Robert Buckland QC MP said: ‘We are facing an unprecedented challenge and the government’s absolute priority is to save lives and protect the NHS. With each part of our justice system – from police to probation – dependent on one another, it is vital that we keep our courts running.
‘This will only be done while ensuring the safety of the public, judges, legal professionals, staff and all those attending hearings and I’d like to thank everyone for their extraordinary efforts so far.’
The lord chief justice, Lord Burnett of Maldon, added: ‘An extraordinary amount of hard work has gone into keeping our justice system functioning. Technology is being used creatively to ensure that many cases can continue. Not everything can be dealt with remotely and so we need to maintain functioning courts.