Reimagining the Law 9 June 2020

1. Criminal Justice System

The criminal justice system provides the glue which holds our society together; it provides a mechanism for maintaining minimum standards of behaviour to which everyone must adhere with realistic prospect of sanction for those who do not. That system is in jeopardy. It must be sufficiently valued and funded.
Sir Brian Leveson PC

Video interviewing of suspects should become the standard. Those not under arrest should be interviewed from their solicitor's office. Those under arrest would suffer less delay. Lawyers would avoid travel and unnecessary waiting, covering more police stations. Safeguards for confidentiality and the mentally disadvantaged can be built in.
Anthony Edwards

Every Court should have a real-time transcription service, like LiveNote, to provide an instantaneous verbatim record of everything said. Hence in summing up in criminal trials, the norm should be a minimal review of the evidence or none, with a direction to the jury to ask if they need reminding of anything.
Francis FitzGibbon QC

At the end of a trial, defendants should be presented with a USB stick with an audio-recording of the entire trial. Trials are digitally recorded anyway; transcripts are prohibitively expensive and (bizarrely) courts destroy recordings after seven years. In one (almost) cost-free move, the courts could increase transparency and provide a lifeline to the wrongly convicted.
Jon Robins

2. Something old, something new: a marriage of data driven advice and social justice

We should develop internet enabled portable devices for advisers which remotely accesses legal advice and case records as well as processes 'big databases' to identify communities with high advice needs. The advice will be delivered face-to-face in community settings, with empathy valued by clients and with a passion for equality and social justice.
Lindsey Poole