The Courtroom Cat: A Cautionary Tale...

The sight of a Texan lawyer having to deny he was a cat during a live court hearing last month was the source of much hilarity (and no doubt many a meme) across the world. For those in the legal sector however, that cat's curiosity should act as a salutary reminder of the perils of virtual court hearings.

The Covid-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way we work over the past 12 months and courts have been similarly affected: many staff are now working from home and hearings that would normally require parties' physical attendance are being conducted remotely. 

To ensure the continued visibility of and public access to court proceedings during the pandemic, the Coronavirus Act 2020, passed in March last year, inserted a section into the Courts Act 2003 that allowed courts to broadcast court proceedings conducted by video "for the purpose of enabling members of the public to see and hear [those] proceedings".