COURT BULLETIN

Notice for Members working  in Criminal Courts in Glasgow

if anyone is experiencing any difficulty with the undernoted can you please contact The Court Administration Team or any member of the committee

Magic Room

the solicitor client rooms situated on the 2nd floor are being well used for viewing CCTV - the eventual plan will be that CCTV will be made available at pleading diet

STOP reports

a reminder to all defence solicitors that sanction can be applied for and put in place prior to receiving Stop report - the court reports that this is sporadic with some solicitors having sanction in place and others not applying for legal aid sanction until the report is received

Diary Management

if any defence solicitors think that they have a trial which may fall into the "starred category" ie, unusual, lengthy - ie 3 day trial diet - vulnerable witnesses - reduction to summary - etc., can you please advise the court in order that suitable time can be allocated for court

VIEWING CCTV AT COURT 

Please note that CCTV viewing equipment has now been installed in each of the solicitors/client interview rooms on the 2nd Floor.  Digital locks have been fitted to each of the doors leading to the room.  (contact us re code)  Remote controls in adjacent court rooms

Further information on viewing CCTV

DVDs will play on PCs with ‘windows media’.  Free software – ‘VideoLAN’ can easily be downloaded onto PCs.  The police use this software.  Although no risks have been highlighted, it would be down to individual organisations to consider the use of the software

DATA GATHERING EXERCISE

Thanks to everyone who assisted with the data gathering exercise on Monday 30th January.  The data gathered by us and by the Scottish Court service is presently being analysed.  We will report the findings as soon as this has been completed.

Witness Lists -

There are going to be changes to the first and second witness list piloted. The court is looking for one list - this will be at 10.15am.  This should start as soon as possible.   The Fiscal will make a decision about trials on the basis of what the witness list shows.

CCTV

Identification of  “the magic room”.  A possibility is one of the solicitor interview rooms of which there are 4.  This could be adapted and include a TV with DVD facilities.  The hope is that the Crown can have CCTV made available for the pleading diet.
 
STOP Reports

The process of getting the STOP report to the P.F. has been streamlined and should therefore arrive with the solicitors more quickly.   how quickly Legal Aid could be put in place by the defence?   Sanction can be sought by the defence prior to the STOP report being received - there is a template on line and is granted automatically for defence reports and therefore there should be no delay in relation to sanction.   It is the availability of the STOP report which has caused the delay as the experts can only act when the STOP report is available.

Electronic website for Disclosure

If anyone is experiencing any difficulty with the Electronic website for Disclosure could you please feedback to Moira  in order that this can be discussed at the Summary Trials Working Group on this date.  A circular has been sent to all members with full details

Custody Court Information Sheets

If there are any problems with the sheets  which are in the bar common room not being updated or if the information is wrong (ie client has been liberated and not showing on sheet)  can you please, immediately, inform one of the Managers in the Sheriff Clerk's office.  They are anxious to correct any problems that may arise as soon as possible

Sheriff Court Custody Booths

A further Reminder - Could all solicitors please return their cards after seeing their clients in the custody booths - this has been requested previously, however, the situation has not improved.

solicitors attending on clients within the cell area will now be required to sign in and sign out *** please also note that the lists of clients in cells are now displayed in the cell area - please refer to the list and not to the Bar Officer.

The  Past President, Ken Wadell recently met with John Dunn, Area PF.  They had a helpful discussion on the issue of criminal justice secure email systems, all with a view to seeing whether or not communication between defence agents and the Crown can be more immediate and effective.  Discussions also concentrated on the desire to reduce the, “churn” in courts and areas that would be looked at include the ongoing issue of disclosure and whether or not email communications would assist.  The present level of churn remains fairly static at around 30%.  A particular issue raised was the loadings for trial courts which requires to be kept under review.  Of particular concern was the loading in court 1A which seems to have a significant loading of trials when the reality is that this court converts to being a custody court for afternoons.  Anyone with particular concerns on matters relevant to the handling of cases and the PF should contact the Court Administration team or a Committee member.

CCTV

DVD's should be easily playable on a DVD player.  However, if solicitors are experiencing a problem with viewing DVD and it is "Chapterised" please contact the problem Solving Unit at Ballater Street, 08445614405 and DVD can be converted.

Deferred Sentence Times

The Summary Trials Working Group are considering  the times of deferred sentences AND ARE LOOKING FOR FEEDBACK ON ANY DIFFICULTIES/PREFERENCES FOR deferred sentence cases -IE, -  what are the problems calling they way they do? Do you have any possible suggestions? Please feedback to Moira or  Court Administration team

We have been asked if  Solicitors could please provide the reasons why a continuation without plea has been sought   Additionaly, could solicitors please note that a CWP letter does not necessarily mean that a CWP request  will be granted Please check and confirm that your letter/ intimation has been granted and that the case has has been CWP'd, as it might be the case that this has been refused and a diet has been fixed.

Letters of Engagement

it has been requested that Solicitors when sending in 'not guilty' letter to courts incorporate 'terms of engagement' This will assist the process for activating disclosure at the earliest opportunity.  It has been respectfully requested and would also assist if when tendering not guilty plea personally( or handing in letters personally) that two letters of engagement be handed into the court

Solicitors leaving courts

When working between courts could Solicitors please leave contact details in order that they are available when case calls.  Any suggestions on how this can be improved would be helpful

Disclosure

We have been advised that disclosure will be available at the latest 4 days prior to the Intermediate diet.  Could arrangements be made for disclosure to be picked up prior to Intermediate diet and not at Court on the day of the Intermediate Diet.