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Annual Report of the Supreme Court 2020
Wednesday 14th April 2021
Just Access and efficiencies achieved during Covid Restrictions
- Virtual hearings, automation of administration & services, online filing of appeals, and the E-filing of submissions now being fully utilised, has resulted in: no backlog of cases in the Supreme Court, waiting times slashed from a high of five years some years back, and down from 12 months in 2019, to three months currently.
- Court members involved remotely in ten international networks as Brexit approached.
- Court introduced new rules in 2020 to make its system even more efficient.
The annual report of the Supreme Court was launched today by Chief Justice Frank Clarke and offers a comprehensive insight into the important and varied work of the Court during 2020.
The Supreme Court Annual Report 2020 highlights the work of the court throughout what was an unprecedented and challenging year, which saw:
- A transition to remote hearings, with the first remote hearing taking only place 40 days after announcement of the first set of Covid related public health restrictions.
- 142 new applications for leave to appeal cases were lodged.
- 158 Applications for leave were resolved by year end.
- 117 remote sessions, ‘Virtual courts’, were held on the dedicated video-conferencing platform, Pexip.
- The Court delivered 89 written judgments.
The report details significant improvements in waiting times for appeals to be heard, to below 14 weeks - an historic low. As well as remote hearings, revised rules and practices were introduced to case management and steer cases to more net points for hearing in the court room.