_{Photo: Chief Justice Hon. Louise Blenman receives the Honor Guard salute}

by William Ysaguirre

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Jan. 20, 2025

The High Court of Belize and Court of Appeal began their legal year with a traditional, ecumenical mass at the Holy Redeemer Cathedral and the traditional parade to the Supreme Court building, with all the pomp and circumstance of the inspection of the Police Guard of Honor held under pouring rain on Monday morning, January 20.

_{ComPol Chester Williams escorts CJ Louise Blenman}

The theme of the new legal year is, “A Transformed and More Efficient Judiciary”. Belize must move forward to fully digitize the justice system for the most speedy and efficient delivery of justice, in line with the other territories in the Commonwealth, with support from PACE Justice and the Inter-American Development Bank, the honorable Chief Justice Louise Blenman affirmed, when she addressed the Bar Association and special invited guests – the Governor General H.E. Froyla Tzalam and Opposition leader Moses “Shyne” Barrow, in her court after the ceremony.

_{GG Froyla Tzalam}

Chief Justice Blenman summarized the Judiciary’s 11 pillars of achievements and advances in the Justice system over the past year. “We have increased the capacity of the Judiciary through training. Secondly, we upgraded and obtained additional court facilities. Thirdly, we had reduced the backlog in the civil and criminal divisions of the High Court. Fourthly, we’ve introduced a note system and measures to decongest the backlog in the Court of Appeal. Fifthly, we’ve made strides in modernizing the technological facilities of our court. Sixth, we revised and modernized the civil procedure rules. Seventh, we revised and modernized our code of ethics. Eighth, we published Belize’s first ever sentencing guidelines for criminal cases. Ninth, with alterations to the mediation committee, [we] expanded it to [include] the alternative dispute resolution committee, and revised the use of court elected mediation. Tenth, we disposed of most of the backlog in inferior appeals in the High Court. Eleventh, we introduced court selected mediation.”

_{Chief Justice Hon. Louise Blenman}

She congratulated the judges of the High Court for their diligence and dedication to decide cases efficiently in a timely manner, which has helped to reduce the backlog. She noted that judges are dealing with cases at double and even triple the rate of processing cases that previously occurred, with judges hearing new cases simultaneously with older matters, thereby reducing the backlog of older cases from 14 years to four years. Defendants are no longer having to spend an unnecessarily long time on remand awaiting trial, as in the criminal division, the judges have adopted a zero tolerance to unnecessary adjournments. She noted that the Director of Public Prosecutions, the prosecutors, the defense attorneys, Legal Aid and all other interested parties [helped] to speed up the delivery of justice.

_{Appeals court Justice Antoinette Moore}

Similarly, transformative reforms in the legal system have also reduced the backlog of civil cases from 12 years to three years, and Blenman avowed the judiciary’s intention to further reduce the backlog this year. She noted the lack of a Chief Registrar for the High Court, as well as sufficient stenographers and court marshalls, and she proposed that additional court stenographers be trained, along with a cohort of civil mediators. Presently, the civil division of the High Court has five judges dealing with civil matters, and she proposed that two more judges be hired, once the government allocates a sufficient budget for this purpose.

_{Deputy registrar Kenya Brooks}

She noted that the lack of High Court transcripts of cases is impeding the work of the Appeals Court, and she proposed that this be addressed with stenographer training and the acquisition of Artificial Intelligence technology to help digitize the registry and the administration of the courts in general. She counts on the continued support of PACE Justice with this plan. She also invited the lawyers involved with these cases to use their notes to help with producing transcripts. She looked forward to the Court acquiring new equipment in March of this year, which will use A.I. technology to record the court proceedings, and to create transcripts for new cases going forward.

_{Appeals court Justice Minette Hafiz}

She proposed for the High Court to embrace modern technology to make their job easier in every way, by modernizing the high court’s website and also to develop an e-library, so that lawyers and the general public will be able to access electronic books to research legal questions.

_{Attorney Wendy Auxillou}

She observed that the public has developed an increased appetite for litigation, which has increased the workload of the civil courts. The courts have endeavored to reduce the number of civil cases which go to trial by swearing in 30 new Civil Court mediators in 2024, and she proposed to reduce the workload of the criminal courts by training 15 new Court mediators for criminal cases.

_{Bar Association president – William Lindo}

The president of the Bar Association, attorney William Lindo, and Attorney General Anthony Sylvester also addressed the special sitting before it was adjourned. The Attorney General recommended the use of technology in the Courts to allow witnesses and defendants to attend court virtually, which would save time and cost, and speed access to justice for people who live outside the city and for those who suffer from a physical handicap. He announced that the government will be introducing new legal reforms and changes in the law to allow the Family Courts to also have virtual hearings, for greater efficiency and better justice for all.

_{Police honor guard}