Court of Session Outer House to pilot virtual hearings

The Outer House of the Court of Session is planning its first virtual substantive hearing next week, subject to agreement with the parties, Scottish Courts & Tribunals Service has announced. The pilot will be conducted with a view to enabling Outer House substantive hearings to proceed virtually by videoconference from 1 June.

Virtual video hearings in Scotland began in April with Inner House cases and now regularly include High Court Criminal Appeals. Pilot virtual hearings have also been conducted for civil business in the sheriff courts, and SCTS said it expects more courts to go online in the coming weeks.

Media and public access is available to certain virtual cases. Those interested should contact judicialcomms@scotcourts.gov.uk

Describing the development as "further progress and good news", Roddy Dunlop QC, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, tweeted: "With the Sheriff Appeal Court also gearing up for WebEx hearings in June, this is a significant step forward. Outstanding main challenge is evidential hearings - criminal and civil."