The Featured Hearings we list here are provided for convenience, and for ease-of-access for people who may be unfamiliar with observing hearings in the Court of Protection. This is just a selection from about 20-30 hearings that are scheduled to take place across England and Wales each day. You can check out our Find More Hearings page for links to further hearings in the Court of Protection). We also tweet all the hearings we know about, so check our Twitter feed (@OpenJusticeCOP).

You do not need our permission to observe hearings – and you should feel free to go ahead and arrange to access a hearing without contacting us in advance, unless you could use information or support we haven’t included on this site (though we would love you to write about your experiences and observations for our blog!)

How to access a hearing

1. Check what hearings are listed.

2. Pick one you want to observe. In choosing a hearing you may want to consider (obviously) what time it is listed for, but also whether it is remote (i.e. video-platform or phone – phone can be difficult and many people find hearings on video-platforms much easier to follow) or whether you need to go along to the court to observe. You may also want to consider what the issues are to be addressed (if we know – we don’t always have this information). Also consider the estimated length of the hearing – most are an hour but some can be much longer (and again we don’t always have this information). Note: Quite a lot of hearings are vacated or adjourned (i.e. they don’t happen) so it’s wise to have a second choice hearing as a ‘back up’ plan, i.e. one an hour or so later that you can ask to observe if you don’t get your first choice. If there isn’t one listed on this page, pick one from our Twitter feed).

3. If the hearing is ‘in person’ (some are only ‘in person’ and there is no video link) you can just go along. There’s no requirement to contact the court in advance – but we recommend that you send an email or call them to check that the hearing is going ahead. If you want to attend a hearing remotely, you need to send an email to the address given. Put the words “Observer Request” in the subject header along with the Case Number (copy and paste it to avoid errors) + the name of the judge. Say: “Dear Court Staff, Please may I observe Case No. xxxx before Judge Y, at [time] on [date]. A link for a video hearing can be sent to this email address or my phone number is xxxx. I confirm that you have my permission to share my email address with representatives for the parties for the purposes of being sent the transparency order and position statements. Thank you.” Make sure that you’ve included your full name at the bottom of the email.

4. They will send you a video-link (or phone you if it’s a phone hearing). (Sometimes we get no response to these requests. That’s why you might want a back-up plan!). Video hearings are either via MS Teams or Cloud Video Platform (CVP) (for info about how to use CVP, click here).

5. Allow yourself plenty of time to get to the hearing. If you’re attending ‘in person’ you will need to allow time to get through airport-style security and find the courtroom. If you’re attending remotely, we recommend joining about 10mins before the listed start time, because you may find you have connection problems. You should join hearings with your mike and camera off – only turn them on if the court staff or judge asks you to do so.

6. We’re often asked “will I be expected to say anything in court?”. Mostly, no. But sometimes before the beginning of the hearing, court staff are trying to make sure they have everyone they need in the hearing and they may ask who you are (just say “I’m a public observer”. At an ‘in person’ hearing you are usually asked, by court staff, to fill in a form (before the hearing begins) with your name and address – this doesn’t happen with remote hearings because they already have your name email address. You may be asked to turn on your mike to confirm to the court staff that you are able to hear the proceedings. Occasionally, the judge asks observers to confirm that we’ve received and understood the reporting restrictions order (or transparency order): often we’ve not been sent it, so that’s quite useful and if we say ‘no’ the judge directs someone to send it!

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