Friday 25 October 2024 A weekly round-up of the latest news and information about courts and tribunals | | Claimants and defendants across West Yorkshire will benefit from modernised facilities as a new state-of-the-art courts and tribunals centre opened in Leeds this week. Minister Alexander attended the official opening of the centre at West Gate, which contains 12 brand new hearing rooms to handle cases ranging from employment rights to property disputes. | | Leeds District Magistratesâ and Family Court is hosting an open evening on Thursday 7 November 2024. Students and other young professionals interested in a career in family law are welcome to come along and get involved in mock court hearings, speak to staff and more. | | New guidance has been issued this week reminding Counsel and Defence Practitioners that they are required to sign in to Common Platform at every hearing. Failure to do so could result in a delay in fee payments. We hope this will improve the data within Common Platform, as well as enable the Legal Aid Agency to process claims without the need to request an attendance note, which can delay payments. | | We're rolling out mediation as an integral part of the small claims process, where claims are made online through our Online Civil Money Claims (OCMC). Mediation is often a quicker, cheaper way for parties to resolve their dispute without the need to pay a hearing fee.   From Tuesday 5 November 2024, for new civil court claims filed online using OCMC, attending a mediation session will become a required step in resolving a money dispute under £10,000.  Parties will need to attend an appointment to try and resolve their case ahead of having a court hearing. Mediation became a requirement for claims made on paper, or through our legacy system, in May 2024. | | What did you think of this email? | | |