Experience with video-hearings in courts

To join the webinar on Zoom, follow this link.

While they were possible before, the COVID-19 crisis accelerated the use of video-hearings in courts in many European countries including Norway, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is unlikely that video hearings will disappear with the end of the pandemic. On the way to the best frameworks and experiences of judges, lawyers, parties and the public in as many countries as possible can provide invaluable inspiration. In this discussion, a number of important topics need to be taken into account, including the experience of judges lawyers and parties, the difficulties of data-protection and of providing access to public hearings as required by the European Convention of Human Rights, the rights of parties, in particular defendants, and socially vulnerable parties. 

We start the discussion with bringing judges and academics together to listen to the experience with video-hearings in court and to discuss the future. 

Programme:

2.00 WELCOME: Prof. Ragna Aarli and prof. Eirik Holmøyvik, leaders of the research group, welcomes the audience.

2.05 OPENING SPEECH from Supreme Court Justice Nina Betetto (Slovenia), President of the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE) and the Council of Europe.

• The role of judges during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

2.15 EXPERIENCES FROM NORWAY:

• Judge Kjetil Myhrvold and judge Kristin Farstad at Hordaland District Court

2.30 5-min questions from the audience

2.35 EXPERIENCES FROM ENGLAND and WALES:

• Dr John Sorabji, Barrister Nine St John Street Chambers; Lecturer, University College London. 

2.50 5-min questions from the audience.

2.55 EXPERIENCES FROM GERMANY:

• André Wilkening, Judge at the Regional Court of Celle, seconded at the Higher Regional Court of Celle, Germany.
• Dr Maike Hoffmann, Judge at the Higher Regional Court of Celle, Germany.

3.10 5-min questions from the audience

3.15 THE PROBLEM OF CROSS-BORDER VIDEO-HEARINGS - a German perspective as a starting point for exchange: 

• Bärbel Kohake, LL.M. (London): Legal Officer, Division for International Civil Procedure Law, Maintenance Law and Arbitration law at the German Federal Ministry of Justice.

3.20 5-min questions/exchange of experience with cross-border hearings

3.25 GENERAL DISCUSSION

3.55 CLOSING REMARK: Prof. Anne Sanders, Bielefeld University, prof. II University of Bergen

The Webinar will be recorded for the purpose of reuse in discussion within the judiciary and academic research.