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Transparency, Data Protection and the Law Courts of the Future

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2018

Paul Magrath
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Abstract

This article by Paul Magrath examines the tensions between data protection and transparency in the context of a long overdue digital revolution in the courts of England and Wales. Many traditional hearings are being replaced by virtual or video-conference type hearings, and may in time be dealt with by an online court. There are concerns that open justice may suffer. Yet any attempt to remedy this with more transparent scrutiny of court information will need to conform to the stricter data protection regime under GDPR as well as respecting the privacy of litigants and the presumption of innocence. The author is Head of Product Development and Online Content with ICLR and a trustee of the Transparency Project.

Keywords

data protectionGDPRopen justiceonline courtslaw courts
Type
Data Protection and GDPR
Information
Legal Information Management , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 70 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2018. Published by British and Irish Association of Law Librarians 

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References

Footnotes

1 Briggs LJ, Civil Courts Structure Review: Final Report, 27 July 2016 www.judiciary.gov.uk/publications/civil-courts-structure-review-final-report/.

2 Ministry of Justice: Transforming our justice system: summary of reforms and consultation, September 2016 https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/transforming-our-courts-and-tribunals/supporting_documents/consultationpaper.pdf.

3 Sixteenth View from the President's Chambers: Children and vulnerable witnesses: where are we? https://www.familylaw.co.uk/news_and_comment/16th-view-from-the-president-s-chambers-children-and-vulnerable-witnesses-where-are-we#.WsIVQtPwY-k.

4 P Gibbs, Defendants on Video – conveyor belt justice or a revolution in access? (Transform Justice, October 2017) http://www.transformjustice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Disconnected-Thumbnail-2.pdf.

5 Rozenberg, Tribunal Holds First Video Appeal (Facebook post, 26 March 2018) https://www.facebook.com/JoshuaRozenbergQC/posts/425053307916591:0.

6 Bowcott, First virtual court case held using claimant's laptop camera (The Guardian, 26 March 2018) https://www.theguardian.com/law/2018/mar/26/first-virtual-court-case-held-using-claimant-laptop-camera?CMP=share_btn_tw.

7 Briggs, Civil Courts Structure Review: Interim Report, para 5.106 (December 2015) https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/CCSR-interim-report-dec-15-final-31.pdf.

8 Rozenberg, J: The Online Court: will IT work? (2017, Kindle editions).

9 https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2016-2017/0170/17170.pdf.

10 According to a recent handout at an HMCTS Reform Roadshow held at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

11 See Contempt of Court Act 1981, s 4 and Administration of Justice Act 1960, s 12 respectively.

12 See Children Act 1989, s 97.

13 See, for example, Crisis in Our Courts – and How to Solve it (Transparency Project, 21 January 2018) http://www.transparencyproject.org.uk/crisis-in-our-courts-and-how-to-solve-it/.

14 Practice Guidance (Family Courts: Transparency) [2014] EWHC B3 (Fam); [2014] 1 WLR 230 and Practice Guidance (Court of Protection: Transparency) [2014] EWHC B2 (COP); [2014] 1 WLR 235 (16 Jan 2014).

15 J Doughty, A Twaite and P Magrath, Transparency through publication of family court judgments: An evaluation of the responses to, and effects of, judicial guidance on publishing family court judgments involving children and young people (Cardiff University, March 2017).

16 For a fuller discussion of these tensions, see Doughty, Reed and Magrath, Transparency in the Family Courts: Publicity and Privacy in Practice (Bloomsbury Professional, 2018).

17 Legal Information Management 15 (2015), pp 189–195, at p 189CrossRefGoogle Scholar.