During a press briefing held at Port of Spain’s Judicial Waterfront Centre, which coincided with the one-year anniversary of his swearing-in as Chief Justice, Ronnie Boodoosingh outlined a forward-thinking proposal to roll out a revamped, expanded mobile court network that would bring judicial services directly to underserved, far-flung communities across the twin-island nation. The initiative targets settlements including Toco, Cedros, Moruga, Charlotteville and Roxborough, where local residents currently face burdensome, hours-long commutes to attend scheduled court hearings at centralized urban or regional court facilities. Under the planned framework, all cases involving defendants, witnesses and claimants from a single remote community will be consolidated and heard on pre-determined dedicated dates at repurposed public spaces such as local community centres, ideally sited near existing police stations. A full complement of judicial personnel — including presiding magistrates, court clerks, administrative staff and accompanying police officers — will travel to these temporary venues, rather than requiring community members to journey to distant permanent court buildings. The model draws partial inspiration from a long-dormant pilot scheme previously operated out of Point Fortin Magistrates’ Court, which periodically deployed full court teams to Cedros to handle clustered local cases, a structure the Judiciary aims to revive and scale to cover dozens of underserved areas. Chief Justice Boodoosingh noted that the frequency of mobile court sittings for each location will be calibrated based on the volume and nature of local case loads, eliminating the need to invest in constructing and maintaining underused permanent brick-and-mortar courthouses in regions where case numbers do not justify the high overhead costs. The planned rollout may also include purpose-modified transport vehicles to carry personnel and portable judicial equipment to more isolated sites, eliminating logistical barriers to holding sittings even in the most geographically disconnected villages. Emphasizing the human impact of the policy, Boodoosingh noted that many rural residents currently face disproportionate personal and financial hardship to attend even minor court matters, a barrier that the mobile court model will directly mitigate. The mobile court scheme forms a core pillar of the Judiciary’s broader multi-pronged strategy to cut systemic backlogs and long-standing procedural delays that have plagued the national court system for years. Boodoosingh confirmed that leadership aims to advance detailed operational planning for the initiative throughout the current law term, with a full review of district-level court lists underway to identify the communities that stand to benefit most from the service. Complementary to the mobile court rollout, the Judiciary is also exploring plans to install in-person filing kiosks and dedicated virtual access hubs at existing magistrates’ court locations, designed to support residents who lack consistent, high-speed home internet access. These additional facilities will allow users to submit legal documentation and access a range of basic court services without travelling to the specific courthouse handling their individual case, further reducing geographic and digital barriers to equal justice for all citizens.