Lord President reviews Covid recovery in annual address
The Lord President has given his annual address to mark the opening of the legal year, in the first full bench ceremony since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lord Carloway said that although the courts now run throughout the year, it was still meaningful to observe the beginning of a new legal year, as it provided an opportunity to reflect and to look to the future.
He began by paying his respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II and marking the accession of King Charles III.
“On a practical level,” he noted, “a change of monarch may not have much impact on the workings of the courts and tribunals. It is nevertheless of legal significance. Justice is done in the name of the reigning monarch, which stems from his historic role as the fount of law and justice.”
Turning to the progress of the courts recovery programme, Lord Carloway said the long term effects of the pandemic on outstanding criminal cases should not be understated. “It is a significant problem which has to be and is being addressed. It is one which cannot be solved without the assistance of both branches of the legal profession and, critically, Government funding.”
During the first year of the programme, the backlog had been reduced by almost 9,000 cases, albeit mostly summary trials. He was “acutely aware” that prosecutors and defence lawyers were being asked to handle more cases, and was very grateful to all concerned for their efforts in keeping business running.
The Lord President praised the cinema model for jury trials, which had worked well. Many lessons had been learned: “First and foremost, the system works. There does not appear to be any significant statistical difference in the verdicts returned. The juries have had no apparent difficulty in assessing witnesses on screen. More research is no doubt needed on both of these aspects.”
Secondly, balloting in open court would not return: remote balloting, which only required selected jury members, and a few reserves, to come to court, would continue as saving money and reducing inconvenience to others.
The various pilot schemes to improve efficiency would continue, and on the Lord Justice Clerk’s review, in areas where legislative change was not required, substantive trial progress was being made, “notably in the creation of facilitates to support the pre-recording of evidence of children and vulnerable witnesses; and the giving of the evidence remotely”.
In the Court of Session, a task force was working on a permanent system for live-streaming appeal hearings (which would not be appropriate for all hearings); it was hoped to have this up and running soon.
The Lord President finished by thanking all involved in the courts and tribunals system for their “unstinting commitment and professionalism”. He then invited the Dean of Faculty, Roddy Dunlop KC, and the President of the Law Society of Scotland, Murray Etherington, to add some words, before welcoming the 16 advocates and solicitor advocates recommended for the rank and dignity of King’s Counsel.