Welcome news that weekend trial courts aren't part of September recovery plan

Amanda Millar, President of the Law Society of Scotland has welcomed news from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service that proposals for weekend trial courts mentioned in their original Respond, Recover, Renew plan will not feature in the Recover, Renew, Transform programme of court recovery which will be implemented from September 2021.

Amanda said: “While it is certainly good news that weekend courts are off the table, the concerns I have raised with the Lord President about the resilience of the profession and the finite capacity of the criminal legal sector remain valid. As holiday court dates remain on the schedule for 2021 there are still significant concerns about the impact on a hard-pressed profession who rely on local holiday dates as times when they know court business will not be scheduled and can therefore plan breaks. The Law Society remains committed to working towards and building the creative solutions needed to look beyond simply increasing the number of trials which can take place. To do this it will be important to include the legal profession and wider stakeholders within the justice system to find new ways forward which both serve the public interest and are properly resourced.”