Gee Street Courthouse is home to Clerkenwell and Shoreditch County Court and five courtrooms used by the Principal Registry of the Family Division (PRFD) and the Family Division of the High Court. The purpose of this leaflet is to help litigants by explaining how Gee Street operates.

Transport
The Courthouse is about ten minutes walk from Old Street (exit 7) and Barbican tube stations, fifteen minutes from St Pauls and a little nearer Farringdon station. The number 4 bus from Fleet Street passes St Paul’s and the end of the street. There is no on-street parking but there are two local NCP car parks, one in Goswell Road and the other in Pear Tree Court.
There is full disabled access. CAFCASS and guardians have the exclusive use of a room on the third floor with a phone and internet access.
There are no catering facilities on site but there are numerous outlets in the vicinity.

Court Details
The Gee Street Courthouse
29-41 Gee Street
London
EC1V 3RE

tel 020 7250 7200
fax 020 7250 7250
DX 121000 Shoreditch 2

Case Management

· Cases will only be listed for trial at Gee Street and will not be transferred there. All case management will be the responsibility of the ‘home court’ and will take place there.

· All applications, including applications for adjournments, must be issued at the home court. The staff at Gee Street will not accept applications. Any sent there will be returned un-issued to the applicants.

· County Court orders will be drawn by the court staff at Gee Street and served by them. High Court orders will be drafted and served by the Royal Courts of Justice.

Listing

· No case will be listed for trial at Gee Street without the express consent of the Designated Family Judge for London, HHJ Pearlman, or the Family Liaison Judge for London, Mr Justice Munby.

· The Clerk of the Rules at the Royal Courts of Justice is responsible for listing cases at Gee Street. All listing matters, e.g. change in length of hearing, should be referred to her office. Tel 020 7947 6540 fax 020 7947 7304 email PRFD.Familyhighcourt@hmcourts-service.gsi.gov.uk.

General Enquiries
Any questions relating to practical arrangements for the trial should be addressed to the family/care section manager at Gee Street, on 020 7250 7179.

Video conferencing
Gee Street has facilities for taking evidence over a video link.

·	Permission for evidence to be given in this way must be obtained from a judge at the home court.

No later than seven days after permission has been granted or the case is listed for trial at Gee Street (whichever is the later) the solicitor for the party calling the witness whose evidence is to be taken over the link must discuss the date when the evidence will be taken and the arrangements to be made.

·	No later than seven days before the trial starts, the solicitor must confirm with the family/care section manager that the facility is still needed and that all necessary arrangements have been made.

Videos/Dvds
Gee Street has facilities for viewing videos/dvds.

·	The video/dvd must be sent to the court with the trial bundle, accompanied by a letter specifically requesting the judge to view them and indicating the length of each video.

·	If any party wants videos/dvds to be viewed in court, notice must be given to the family/care section manager at Gee Street no later than seven days before the trial commences.

Trial bundles

Trial bundles must be filed at Gee Street no later than two clear working days before trial in accordance with the President’s Direction of the 27th July 2006[2006] 2 FLR 199. Parties are reminded that it is their responsibility to ensure that both the judge’s and the witness bundles are up to date. They should not expect that the home court or the PRFD will forward trial bundles to Gee Street.

·	A witness template must be filed at the same time as the trial bundle. This must include details of the estimated time for each party evidence in chief and cross-examination of all witnesses.

It is the applicant’s responsibility for removing trial bundles at the end of the hearing. These cannot be stored at Gee Street and it expensive to destroy them as confidential waste or to return them by dx. All trial bundles not removed within seven days of the end of the hearing will be destroyed or returned to the applicants at their cost.

06 October 2006 His Honour Judge John Mitchell

Lead Judge Gee Street Courthouse