During lockdown, the English courts adapted well to fully remote hearings. However, we may be starting to see a return to in-person hearings as the default position – in the English Commercial Court at least
During lockdown, the English courts adapted well to fully remote hearings. However, we may be starting to see a return to in-person hearings as the default position – in the English Commercial Court at least
One of the parties in Michael Wilson & Partners Ltd v Emmott & Ors is resident in Kazakhstan and requested the hearing of an application to be held remotely because of the time it would take him to travel to an in-person hearing in London.
The judge said that, post-lockdown, "the default position of the Commercial Court, now that the pandemic has ended, is that hearings lasting half a day or longer should take place in court on an attended basis". He saw no reason to depart from that position here: a huge number of Commercial Court cases involve at least one party that is located abroad and this is not a "material consideration" when deciding whether a hearing should be remote or in person.
At most, the judge was prepared to direct that the hearing should take place at a time when the party would be in London anyway (provided that did not further delay the hearing).
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