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Accessing a Remote Hearing in the Court of Protection
On May 25th I observed a hearing before Mr Justice Hayden (Vice President of the Court of Protection) in the High Court. And - as with thousands of other public observers throughout the pandemic, I did this from the comfort of my own home!
The process of gaining access to a hearing was relatively straightforward - although I needed to know how to go about it (information is available via the Open Justice Court of Protection Project - openjusticecourtofprotection.org). I found details of a hearing I wished to observe at a time I was available via the court's Daily Cause List (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/royal-courts-of-justice-cause-list) and emailed the address given on the list, requesting access as a member of the public. I sent this email at 9.30 on the morning of the hearing, and received an email reply from court staff at 9.37 providing a link to the MS Teams platform where the hearing would take place.
As an autistic and physically disabled academic activist and co-director of the Open Justice Court of Protection Project, I am passionate about the principle of Open Justice. This is a particularly key issue in the Court of Protection - whose remit is to make potentially life-changing decisions affecting the lives of disabled people deemed to lack the capacity to make those decisions for themselves. This is a place where disability politics plays out daily, and seeing law in action here is a powerful form of activism.
On May 25th I observed a hearing before Mr Justice Hayden (Vice President of the Court of Protection) in the High Court. And - as with thousands of other public observers throughout the pandemic, I did this from the comfort of my own home!
The process of gaining access to a hearing was relatively straightforward - although I needed to know how to go about it (information is available via the Open Justice Court of Protection Project - openjusticecourtofprotection.org). I found details of a hearing I wished to observe at a time I was available via the court's Daily Cause List (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/royal-courts-of-justice-cause-list) and emailed the address given on the list, requesting access as a member of the public. I sent this email at 9.30 on the morning of the hearing, and received an email reply from court staff at 9.37 providing a link to the MS Teams platform where the hearing would take place.
As an autistic and physically disabled academic activist and co-director of the Open Justice Court of Protection Project, I am passionate about the principle of Open Justice. This is a particularly key issue in the Court of Protection - whose remit is to make potentially life-changing decisions affecting the lives of disabled people deemed to lack the capacity to make those decisions for themselves. This is a place where disability politics plays out daily, and seeing law in action here is a powerful form of activism.
