Issue 200  3rd July 2021

At least five Nightingale courts will shut this week, the government has said, despite demands from the legal profession for more court capacity. Makeshift courts in Birmingham, Hull, Lancaster, Middlesbrough and Stafford will close at the end of the month. HM Courts & Tribunals Service said it will consider replacement venues in locations where an ‘operational need remains’. Meanwhile, Chester Town Hall, which handled criminal cases during the pandemic, will be replaced by Crowne Plaza Chester, a four-star hotel. Earlier this month, Mercure Maidstone – a hotel in Kent with conference and meeting rooms – opened two non-custodial crown courtrooms for jury trials. The government has also promised that a ‘super-court’ will open in Loughborough in September to hear complex cases involving several defendants such as gang-related crime and sex-trafficking cases.

Quarterly figures published by the government last week show that outstanding Crown court cases continued to rise in January- March 2021, up 45% compared with the previous year and 4% on the previous quarter. In the magistrates’ court, outstanding cases increased by 3% on the previous quarter and are 21% higher than the previous year. More up-to-date figures suggest that the backlog is starting to dip, however. According to the Ministry of Justice, 57,503 cases were outstanding in the Crown court system at the end of May, down from 58,228 at the end of April. Throughout May, the backlog shrank by around 200 cases a week.

Probation services in England and Wales will return to public control, seven years after Chris Grayling's changes that were later labelled as "flawed". The former justice secretary's 2014 reforms saw the management of low-risk and medium-risk offenders contracted out to private companies. It led to what was assessed as "poor quality supervision" of many offenders...

Mr Grayling's reforms saw the 35 probation trusts in England and Wales previously running the sector being dismantled. Under the system of 21 contracts, private companies, voluntary groups or charities had to bid to win million-pound contracts to run the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs). Opponents warned at the time of the reforms that the public could be put at risk, and many probation staff resigned over fears the new system would become too fragmented.

The head of the Serious Fraud Office has defended the deferred prosecution regime and has warned that Britain’s present legal system enabled a “dangerous culture” that allowed bosses to distance themselves from the actions of their companies.

Writing in The Times today, Lisa Osofsky, chief executive of the SFO, says that existing UK law can result in a corporate culture of “organised irresponsibility”. Prosecutors need to prove that a company’s “controlling mind”, or those controlling the actions of the company, knew of the fraud. However, the complicated governance structure of modern global companies and tactics such as a lack of record-keeping can make identifying responsible individuals challenging or impossible, she says.

The chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission has ordered an independent review in response to accusations it has failed to do away with so-called 'secret soundings', whereby judges were selected on the basis of whether they found favour with colleagues. Eight anonymous serving judges wrote to the Commons justice select committee in April alleging that experienced women and ethnic minority candidates were being passed over for senior roles in favour of inexperienced but well-connected 'traditional' candidates.

Appearing before the committee yesterday, JAC chair Lord Kakkar was asked by Labour's Janet Daby for his views on the 'recent negative attention in the press' and whether public confidence had been affected by the continuing under-representation of minority groups in the senior judiciary. Lord Kakkar said there had been 'something of a misunderstanding in the description of secret soundings' and explained that the commission carries out a 'statutory consultation' as part of the selection process. The commission is legally required to consult a person who has held the office that candidates are applying for, or someone who has other relevant experience, to ensure that candidates are of good character and have the relevant capability for the role. Lord Kakkar told the committee that he was concerned about the impact of the accusations on potential candidates and, as a result, has initiated an independent review of the statutory consultation process.

A new mother with a six-week-old baby said she will take her newborn to breastfeed while she does jury service in protest over “ludicrous rules” that prevent her deferring her duty. Kirsty Keating told The Independent she will do this even though she fears it could harm her baby boy’s well-being as she condemned rules forcing her to do jury duty while breastfeeding. The 38-year-old said she had tried to defer her jury service for a later date when she is not breastfeeding but her request has been refused.