Bar Council hosts Justice Innovation Seminar

The Bar Council hosted the Assembly Justice Committee’s final Justice Innovation seminar on Thursday night with the President of the Supreme Court of the UK, Lord Neuberger. During his speech Lord Neuberger spoke about the important role of the UK Supreme Court in correcting the law, clarifying it and performing a modernising role. This work includes a greater focus on ensuring open justice by allowing greater accessibility to the UK Supreme Court for ordinary citizens; short summaries of judgments are now produced online, social media is being used with a YouTube channel & twitter and senior judges often participate in seminars & Q&A sessions.

Bar Council Chairman Gerry McAlinden QC welcomed Lord Neuberger’s visit to Belfast and highlighted the important innovation work led by Justice Committee Chair Alastair Ross MLA. He stated: “we look forward to seeing the Committee’s upcoming report on ‘Justice in the 21st Century’ and the debate on innovation in the Assembly Chamber next Tuesday”.

He also acknowledged that “the potential for innovation within the justice sector is not lost on the legal profession in Northern Ireland. The Committee’s Digital Justice Conference last year exemplified this with the judiciary and members of the professions highlighting the challenges already being faced regularly by the courts with cases involving social media. In addition, the exploration of online dispute resolution in meeting the needs of the justice system and its users in the 21st century has sparked significant debate among our politicians, the judiciary and profession”