3 minute read
and the courts
by BAHR
The coronavirus pandemic has caused a rapid acceleration in the digitalisation of the legal industry and the courts. In addition to working from home, holding digital meetings with colleagues and clients, as well as replacing onsite seminars and training sessions by webinars, oral hearings before the Supreme Court of Norway have also been conducted remotely. And on top of that, the Norwegian Parliament – the Storting – has decided that legal action may be brought by e-mail.
Live streaming of oral hearing before the Supreme Court and digital appeal proceedings
On 17 April, the Supreme Court did for the first time conduct an appeal hearing remotely. A number of oral hearings followed, including two cases raising important matters of principle that BAHR partners Jan B. Jansen and Tarjei Thorkildsen were involved in. For the first time ever, the Supreme Court also facilitated live streaming of oral hearings by the press on own websites.
Receiving a Writ of Summons straight into the electronic mailbox
On 15 June, the Storting enacted amendments to the Interim Act relating to Modifications to the Procedural Provisions in Response to the Covid-19 Outbreak, etc. These amendments supplement the previously adopted temporary amendments to procedural provisions. This statutory amendment means that judicial documents may also be served electronically by ordinary e-mail.
Seminar for the judges of the Sør-Trøndelag District Court
Sverre Blandhol, Doctor of Law and Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo, and BAHR partner Øystein Myre Bremset held a four-hour digital seminar on «Procedural Risk – From the Perspective of the Judge» for the judges of the Sør-Trøndelag District Court. The ground covered included how judges may benefit from improving their risk appreciation, and what steps the courts may take to prevent legal disputes from becoming inordinately expensive for the parties.
Stock Exchange Seminar for Directors
In September, the Oslo Stock Exchange did for the first time ever hold the «Stock Exchange Seminar for Directors» digitally. No less than 115 participants all over Norway attended the seminar, which was streamed live from BAHR’s auditorium at Tjuvholmen in Oslo. The lecturers included BAHR partners Lars Knem Christie and Arne Tjaum.
Digital training sessions and seminars
Most of our student seminars will normally be held onsite in our own auditorium, but are currently being conducted digitally in the form of webinars. The same applies to external seminars in which BAHR lawyers are featured as lecturers.
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Image 1: From the oral hearing before the Supreme Court in the case concerning what wage and employment conditions shall apply after the transfer of an undertaking from the Norwegian Defence Estates Agency, a government body, to ISS Facility Services AS, a private company, has been completed. Supreme Court Justice Hilde Indreberg is appearing on the left-hand TV screen. BAHR partner Tarjei Thorkildsen, on the front right, is in BAHR’s premises, accompanied by Attorney Kurt Weltzien of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise on his right-hand side.
Image 2: From the appeal hearing before the Supreme Court in the case A/S Norske Shell v. the State, represented by the Petroleum Tax Office. BAHR partner Jan B. Jansen is arguing the case from BAHR’s Meeting Room 201 at Tjuvholmen, while Supreme Court Justices Magnus Matningsdal, Henrik Bull, Kristin Normann and Espen Bergh are appearing on the screen. Marius Pilgaard, BAHR Specialist Partner, is on the far right of the image.
Image 3: BAHR partner Øystein Myre Bremset and Professor Sverre Blandhol are live streaming a seminar for judges of the Sør-Trøndelag District Court from the arbitration room on BAHR’s premises.
Image 4: Øivind Amundsen, CEO of the Oslo Stock Exchange, welcomes attendees to the first digital «Stock Exchange Seminar for Directors». The seminar will in December be held in English for international participants, and this seminar will also be live streamed from BAHR’s premises.
Image 5: BAHR partner Atle J. Skaldebø-Rød and BAHR attorney Bodil Kristine Høstmælingen are hosting a civil procedure student webinar.
Image 6: BAHR attorney Øystein Nore Nyhus holds a lecture on attorneys’ conduct and their relationship with the public administration during the Attorney Training Programme of the Norwegian Centre for Continuing Legal Education.
