Interim applications in the Chancery Division will be heard in person by default from early next month, the chancellor of the High Court has said.

‘The default position for applications in the Chancery Division Applications Court only will be that they are heard in person in Court 10 [in] the Rolls Building unless, in the discretion of the judge, a remote or hybrid hearing is considered appropriate,’ Sir Julian Flaux said in a practice note this week. The change, which will take effect from 9 May, will also apply to interim applications in the Insolvency & Companies Court.

Flaux said that ‘all other applications, hearings or trials in the Chancery Division’ will continue to be dealt with in accordance with guidance issued in September last year, which states that ‘the default position for all hearings under half a day will be for such hearings to take place remotely’.

The update follows a similar decision by the Administrative Court’s senior regional judges, who said that hearings outside of London will be conducted in person by default from this week.

Remote hearings have continued after the end of lockdown, with the lord chief justice recommending in February that Crown court hearings be conducted remotely ‘where it is lawful and in the interests of justice to do so’.

However, the Magistrates’ Association has warned that remote hearings can have a negative impact on communication and effective participation and research published in December also found they have had a detrimental impact on the health and wellbeing of legal representatives and judges.