As a barrister, COVID-19 has taken my work into ominous territory. Last week I represented Sean (not his real name), a former computer worker in his mid-40s, whose life fell apart after he was signed off work with depression. He had lived for eight years in a bedsit in west London, from which the council was now seeking to evict him for falling behind with his rent.
The judge had a difficult question to answer, which boiled down to who was at fault for the arrears, Sean or his illness. As Sean put it: “I describe my depression as like walking with a broken leg. I gave up on everything. I never opened my post as I knew it would just be bills.”
Answering the question required the judge to form an opinion of Sean. But in the civil court system we have had since COVID-19, the defendant disappears from view, rendered both invisible and inaudible. Since the early days of the pandemic, the large majority of hearings have taken place online, unless lawyers have been able to persuade a judge of the need for an in-person hearing.
