Remote justice in urgent family hearings during COVID-19: Climbing the ladder of legal participation

During the first six weeks of the pandemic, hearings in Dutch (urgent) family cases continued online to minimize the spread of coronavirus. Courts would therefore contact litigants using a telephone, Skype or hybrid format, which created all kinds of participation challenges. This article researches to what extent litigants were able to effectively participate during these digital hearings, based on a qualitative analysis of 15 interviews with lawyers, judges and representatives of childcare institutions involved in digital and hybrid hearings during COVID-19. This qualitative analysis applies McKeever’s remote justice framework, the so-called ‘ladder of legal participation’, which measures litigant participation by focusing on their emotional, intellectual, practical and attitudinal barriers during hearings. An application of McKeever’s framework shows the variety of legal participation in urgent family hearings, as well as how a digital environment is able to change the participation barriers of traditional courtroom hearings. In order for litigants to climb the participation ladder, a more nuanced, sociological understanding of all participation levels is needed.