Policy Briefing: Participation in courts and tribunals

It is a long-established legal principle in England and Wales that people should be able to participate effectively in the court and tribunal proceedings that directly concern them. However, the concept of participation is poorly defined in law and underexplored in legal research and analysis. Participation in Courts and Tribunals presents the findings of a unique, cross-jurisdictional study which addressed the pressing, but hitherto neglected, questions of what exactly it means to participate in judicial proceedings, why participation matters, and what factors impede and, conversely, support participation. The study combined a review of national and international policy with empirical research in the form of interviews with justice practitioners and observations of court and tribunal hearings. It examined the meanings and functions of participation in a wide range of contexts: as applied, for example, to defendants in the criminal courts, parties in family proceedings, respondents and claimants in the Employment Tribunal, appellants in immigration and asylum hearings, and witnesses in all such settings. The research findings have generated a provisional framework – Ten Points of Participation – for understanding the principle of effective participation and for supporting participation in practice. These endeavours are all the more important at a time of continuing policy reform and technological innovation – including, not least, change arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The framework presented here should help to ensure that the participation of all court users is at the heart of permanent court reform.