“EFFICIENCY” AND THE COURT SYSTEM 3: WANT TO BE A LAWYER? BUY YOURSELF A SELFIE STICK
In the third (and I suspect not the last) I want to set out a series of tweets which arose from the earlier posts on this topic. There were a series of tweets about the problems caused by courts losing documents, and denying they ever had them. This led to a number of practitioners reported that they have resorted to taking selfies on the documents being placed in the court drop box. Solicitor Giles Peaker reported that, not only has he taken photographs of delivery, he has had to use them – supported by a witness statement. It turns out that a number of solicitors are already doing this.
The theme of this series is that I set out the facts without comment and the reader makes the assessment. The question to be considered – is this a proper way in which to run the administration of justice in the 21st century?
SELFIES AND THE COURT DROP BOX
Plus (regrettably) proof of postage and proof of receipt. I once attended a county court where the judge (Recorder) insisted (forcefully) that the bundle had not arrived. We had a signed receipt from the court staff from several days earlier.
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What a very sorry state of affairs these posts show. Shocking.
If it is by trial to search for truth, then perhaps there is need first to find a place where it exists.
Some developing countries are moving to digital case systems in the cloud precisely because the filing of documents is electronically noted and cannot be ‘lost’. The CaseLines system in the crown courts already works in this way and the date, time and person who loaded each individual document is recorded and available on the screen to all who have access to the case.
No need for selfies there.
We hope the civil courts of England & Wales can make the same move.
I think that it is increasingly apparent that these problems are much more rife in certain courts than others. Serious questions need to be asked about the method of recruitment of court staff and as to whether in some courts persons are being employed who lack the skills and competence to work in this very important sphere.