Select UK courts pilot express entry for lawyers

Five courts in the UK will be testing a fast-lane entry system for lawyers next month.

Under the “professional entry scheme,” accredited legal professionals will be able to bypass security to enter to a court, the UK government said. Barristers will identify themselves with a Bar Council App and Law Society members will show a verified photo ID card, the Law Society Gazette said.

Brighton Magistrates’ Court, Maidstone Combined Court; Southwark Crown Court, Tameside Magistrates’ Court and Wood Green Crown Court in London will be piloting the system next month. The government is looking at the possibility of the scheme being implemented nationwide.

The scheme will allow easier access for legal professionals, who regularly come to court, as well as cut queues.

The Law Society Gazette said last month that legal professionals will be given electronic ID cards that will allow them to “bypass onerous security measures” implemented in courts.

The security measures include a “sip test,” where individuals who want to enter the court must take a sip of a drink they want to bring into the court to ensure that the drink is harmless.

The government said that random security searches will still be in place at the courts testing the new scheme.