Attorney General Anil Nandlall wants the Courts to return to in-person hearing with greater regularity, stating that while virtual hearings have been helpful and have helped the Judiciary, he does not believe it should substitute in-person hearings.
Speaking during the opening of the 2026 law year today, the Attorney General said while virtual hearings can remain in place to deal with certain cases, he believes trials, submissions and presentations of oral arguments should be done in person.
“We should resort to that, COVID has gone seven years now and I believe the time is opportune to resort. I say that not because I want a mechanical return but because those of us who had the privilege of practicing during the period where you had in-person hearings know of the value that we derived from seeing senior practitioners perform their craft in court,” the Attorney General said.
He said the virtual hearings have had some negative impacts, especially on the morale of new lawyers.
“And it’s being reflected in this new generation of lawyers and you can’t blame them because they have not seen anything better and that camaraderie that I believe is so necessary for the legal profession is affected negatively because of the non-persons engagements,” Mr. Nandlall stated.
Mr. Nandlall spoke of a new way of doing things in the legal profession, which among other things will hold legal officers accountable. He also called for greater education and training saying he does not believe some legal officers read the law.
“You have the legislative framework of a modern time but I don’t think that we are reading them, we are not reading them the law. We have the plea bargaining legislation we have the paper committal legislation, we have restorative Justice legislation and I don’t think that they are being used in the Magistrate’s Court”, he said.
The Government has been making investments in the local judiciary with the establishment of more Courts and the appointments of additional Judges at both the High Court and Court of Appeal levels.
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