Lawyers’ Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The overarching objective of this rapid study is to understand lawyers’ experiences with accessing the courts during the COVID 19 pandemic. Since this was the first time that Indian courts were conducting online hearings at such a scale, this review needed to be conducted rapidly so that its findings can inform the future implementation of online hearings and virtual courts. This study looks at the extent to which between 23 March and 20 September 2020, lawyers in nine districts in Delhi, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh were able to access the court machinery, remotely or physically; what processes they used and how effectively they could present their cases. The findings foreground the challenges as well as suggest what measures need to be put in place to ensure that the new requirements of distancing are adhered to while ensuring that none of the principles that ground fair adjudication are compromised.

Keywords: pandemic, COVID 19, digitisation, ecourts, online hearings, justice, lawyers