NO LATE NIGHTS WITH THE JUDGE
When the judge is giving you a hard time, the Equal Treatment Bench Book could come to your rescue and totally deflate them. Just revised, it now runs to 547 pages and chances are that it has not been exhaustively read. The Judicial College produces this bible of correctness and does its own hype. ‘It is used, daily, by the judiciary of England and Wales. It is referred to in their training courses and commended by the appellate courts. It is admired and envied by judiciaries across the globe.’
This latest revision goes heavy on remote hearings. The interim guidance on good practice for ignoring the postman at the door which was issued in July 2020 stands, but appendix E expands considerably. *Judges need to be careful that focus on managing the technological challenges of remote hearings do not distract them from the equally challenging task of ensuring procedural fairness. * Requiring a Muslim woman to remove her veil is problematic in any
