Criminal Proceedings and Covid-19!
Being a party to criminal proceedings can be stressful at the best of times, and in the middle of a worldwide pandemic this is only amplified! Both the courts, solicitors, barristers, and individuals concerned are all having to navigate through an already stressful time in completely new circumstances.
The coronavirus is far reaching in its effect on infrastructure, and it is having a profound effect on the courts and the way they are having to operate day to day. In England and Wales specific legislation that has been released as a result of the coronavirus that has extended the use of live links in criminal proceedings to enable as many trials as possible to go ahead. But this is not without challenge, as there are difficulties with making the court fully virtual and juries are not permitted to use live links. Therefore, many people are finding that their case is being adjourned until a time that lockdown is relaxed to some extent to allow more trials to go ahead, but as I’m sure you can imagine this is inevitably causing a backlog at the courts.
However, because of the provisions the courts are putting in place many trials are still going ahead, even though it is far from business as usual. Even though everyone’s lives are not necessarily ‘normal’ at the moment, we are doing out utmost to help all our clients, including those with ongoing criminal matters, to keep the ball rolling so that they can get to the conclusion of their case and regain some normality.
Here at Kleyman and Co we treat our clients with compassion, and approach the law with a realistic attitude to help prevent our clients from any nasty surprises. If you are someone who has criminal proceedings against you and would like some heartfelt support through the process, or you are a victim of a crime and aren’t sure where to start to resolve things and would like some frank advice, we are here to help you no matter the situation. Please contact us at caoimhe@kleymansolicitors.com and we can arrange a chat to see how we can help.
Kleyman and Co Solicitors. The full service law firm. Tackling crime at the best of times and amidst a pandemic!