Virtual Court Hearings

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1. Question 1.

Have you had first hand experience of a virtual court hearing?

Required - Required.

Yes

No

2. Question 2.

Are you a judge, solicitor, barrister, party, expert witness or other (please specify)?

Judge

Solicitor

Barrister

Party

Litigant in Person

Expert witness

Other (please specify):

This is required

Input box for - Other (please specify):

3. Question 3.

What was the nature of the hearing?

Criminal

Commercial

Family - financial

Family - childcare

Probate

Court of protection

Employment tribunal

Other (please specify):

This is required

Input box for - Other (please specify):

4. Question 4.

How many parties were involved?

Ex parte

2

3

4

5

More than 5

5. Question 5.

Overall on a scale of 1 to 5, how well do you think virtual hearings managed to deliver as fair a hearing as would have been achieved in person? (1: just as fair to 5: much less fair)

1 (just as fair)

2

3

4

5 (much less fair)

6. Question 6.

What IT platform did the court use?

Zoom

MicroSoft Teams

Skype for Business

Other (please specify):

This is required

Input box for - Other (please specify):

7. Question 7.

Were you given an opportunity for a trial run with the software in advance of the first day of the hearing?

Yes

No

8. Question 8.

On a scale of 1 to 5, how easy to use did you find the virtual meeting software (1: very easy to 5:very difficult)?

1 (very easy)

2

3

4

5 (very difficult)

9. Question 9.

On a scale of 1 to 5, how often during the hearing did the sound or picture quality deteriorate so as to hamper communication (1: Never to 5: almost continuously)

1 (Never)

2

3

4

5 (Almost continuously)

10. Question 10.

During the hearing which of the following participants were “on camera”?

Always

Only when speaking

Intermittently

Never

The judge

Always

Only when speaking

Intermittently

Never

Counsel

Always

Only when speaking

Intermittently

Never

The parties

Always

Only when speaking

Intermittently

Never

The parties’ solicitors

Always

Only when speaking

Intermittently

Never

The expert witnesses

Always

Only when speaking

Intermittently

Never

11. Question 11.

On a scale of 1 to 5, how easy did you find it to use an electronic trial bundle (1: very easy to 5: very difficult)

1 (very easy)

2

3

4

5 (very difficult)

12. Question 12.

On a scale of 1 to 5, how did the size of the trial bundle compare with what would have been prepared for a traditional hearing (1: much smaller 3:the same size 5: much larger)

1 (much smaller)

2

3 (about the same size)

4

5 (much larger)

13. Question 13.

On a scale of 1 to 5, how likely do you think it will be that the experience of virtual hearings during the “Lockdown” will result in them being used increasingly often after social distancing restrictions are lifted (1:very likely to be used much more frequently than before to 5: very unlikely to continue to be used at all)?

1 (very likely to be used much more frequently than before)

2

3

4

5 (very unlikely to continue to be used at all)

In what ways do you think the virtual hearing could have been improved?

14. Question 14.

Please leave any other comments here