Jurors may continue to be balloted digitally amid changes to the court system which proved so successful they may be retained after the pandemic, senior lawyers hope.

Since the pandemic the only jurors required to attend in person were the 15 members and five reserves in a raft of changes which included screening trials in cinemas to implement social distancing.

But other changed such as cross-examination by videolink were recommended to be dropped as soon as possible.

Scotland faces a massive backlog of 50,000 trials due to the pandemic.

Vice dean of the Faculty of Advocates, Ronnie Renucci QC, welcomed the change to jury balloting

He said: “I would say that, for the benefit of the public, that has been much better.

“On the first day of a jury, people can go about their normal business, they can be at their work, they maybe get a phone call saying are you OK, you may get picked, we’ll phone you tomorrow.

“And then if they’re picked, the only inconvenience is them having to sit on the jury, not hang about the day before.”

However he warned that digital trials had not proved so successful and added they did not allow for a“full and proper debate” and that “you lose an awful lot doing it digitally”.

Mr Rennucci said: "With the jury there, they’ll get a better feel for witnesses, they’ll get a better feel for the accused, they’ll be able to build up some form of connection, or not."

Digital procedural hearings and e-signatures could become the norm, it was reported in 1919 magazine.

Iain Nicol, convener of the Law Society’s civil justice committee, said 90 per cent of its members believed digital procedural hearings should remain.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service added: “The remote balloting of juries has been an integral part of our remote jury system.

"This is an area where we are considering how to incorporate the improvements in the longer term.”