BT Conferencing

BT Legal Hearings

Legal Hearings

BT Conferencing has been selected by the Ministry of Justice as an approved supplier to facilitate the arrangement of telephone hearings in civil cases throughout England and Wales.

The law on audio conferencing

In April 2007, Practice Direction 23, which supplements Part 23 of the Civil Procedure Rules, was updated to widen the use of telephone hearings. Telephone hearings are now expected to be the norm for the majority of the types of hearings lists below in the county court:

  • Allocation and listing hearings
  • Interim applications, case management conferences and pre-trial reviews with a time estimate of no more than one hour
  • Any other application with prior consent of the court or at the request of the parties concerned

BT Conferencing's Legal Hearings*, audio, web and video services can help

  • Enhance your client services: Improve relationships by providing a faster, more effective service with flexible meeting arrangements to suit your clients' needs.
  • Save time on travelling: No travelling to or waiting around in court, so you can convert waiting and travel time into billable working hours to ensure that a thirty minute hearing lasts no longer than thirty minutes.
  • Speed up the litigation process: Arrange hearings at short notice, gaining access to information when you need it.
  • Increase your firm's efficiency and productivity: Collaborate with colleagues and counsel on legal documents in real time, globally, without the requirement to meet face-to-face and at your convenience.
  • Digitally record calls for archiving: Improved efficiency through BT Conferencing's easy-to-use record and storage, of all telephone hearings, enabling instant access to data at a simple request.
  • Create billing efficiencies: Viewing your conferencing bill online enables more efficient cross-references for telephone hearing charges to be made directly back to your clients.
  • Improve access to justice: Conferencing solutions allow court access for people unable to attend in person, which frees up courtrooms to be used more efficiently when face-to-face hearings are the viable option.

*Telephone Hearing exceptions:

  • All of the parties are unrepresented.
  • The hearing is for an application without notice to the other party
  • More than four parties wish to make representations at the hearing (for this purpose where two or more parties are represented by the same person they are treated as one party).

How does BT Legal Hearings work?

BT Legal Hearings is an easy to use secure audio conferencing service that only requires access to a phone to conduct a telephone hearing.

  • Whenever you need to set up a telephone hearing, either book your telephone hearing online or by phone.
  • You will be sent an email confirmation of your telephone hearing booking.
  • At the agreed time, the BT Conferencing Co-ordinator will dial out to participants (legal parties), according to the Practice Direction, and bring them into the hearing call.
  • The conferencing co-ordinator will announce every new participant as they join the conference and will bring the Judge in as the final person, when the conference is ready to begin.
  • Our co-ordinator will then monitor the conference call to ensure everything is running smoothly and will be on hand to offer help to any participant during the conference.
  • The call will be recorded digitally and will be available for replay upon request by the court.

Why BT Conferencing?

  • BT Conferencing has been selected by HMCS as an approved telephone hearings supplier to the legal community based on being able to provide value for money and a high standard of service as part of their selection process.
  • A fixed price per BT Legal Hearing. This includes a digital recording which is stored for three years.
  • Over 25 years experience in global conferencing. We have successfully managed telephone hearings since the Access to Justice Act was implemented in 1999 and have facilitated over 30,000 hearings since the amendment came into force in April 2007.
  • A simple to use online booking service that allows you to book your BT Legal Hearing up to the day before, or telephone booking service that allows you to book up to an hour before the call is due to start.
  • 27 of the top 50 law firms in the UK using our conferencing services today.
  • BT Legal Hearings helps to cut your firms costs by getting people together without the need to travel, whether they're in the office or working from home.
  • A one stop shop for your conferencing needs, including audio, web and video conferencing, visit www.conferencing.bt.com to find out more.
  • Instant Help - Conference Co-ordinators provide help and advice to ensure the smooth-running of successful telephone hearings. The Conference Co-ordinator will drop out of the call once your telephone hearing is set up. If you require further assistance, simply key * followed by 0 on your telephone, and a Conference Co-ordinator will be happy to assist you.

How to book a Legal Hearing

BT Conferencing ensures we make booking easy and gives you the facility to book, amend and manage your calls online at any time to suit your needs.

To book your BT Legal Hearing please telephone us on 0800 028 4194 or take advantage of our online booking service by clicking here.

For any other queries please e-mail us at telephonehearings@bt.com.

Testimonial

"A leading international law firm needs a partner it can rely on when helping our own clients to do business across 120 countries. We rely on BT Legal Hearings to help minimise the cost and time that face-to-face domestic hearings consume to speed up litigation processes; and to allow us to use that time elsewhere with our clients so that we can focus on delivering our full range of legal services."

Clyde & Co

http://www.clydeco.com/firm/testimonials.cfm