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practitioners and litigants issued by the Chief Justice |
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Case management and the
Individual Docket System
1.
Introduction
1.1 It is 10 years since the docket system
was introduced into the Federal Court.
1.2 The essential element of the individual
docket system is that a case is allocated to a docket of a particular
judge at the time of filing with the intention that it will remain with
that judge for case management and disposition.
1.3 The purpose of this Notice is to
restate the purposes and principles underpinning the individual docket
system.
2.
Purposes
2.1 The overarching purposes of individual
case management within the docket system is the just
resolution of disputes as quickly, inexpensively
and efficiently as possible.
2.2 These purposes inform what the Court
does in its management of proceedings.
2.3 The Court requires that the parties and
their representatives give effect to these purposes in their conduct of
proceedings.
3.
Principles
3.1 In giving effect to the overarching
purposes, the Court, the profession and the parties will necessarily
have regard to what the interests of justice, either generally or in
the particular case, require.
3.2 To that end, the Court may be expected
to have regard to the desirability of:
(a) identifying and narrowing the issues in
dispute as early as possible;
(b) ascertaining the degree of difficulty or complexity of the issues
really in dispute;
(c) setting a trial date early;
(d) minimising unnecessary interlocutory steps by permitting only
interlocutory steps that are directed to identifying, narrowing or
resolving the issues really in dispute between the parties;
(e) exploring options for assisted dispute resolution as early as
practicable.
3.3 The parties and their representatives
have an obligation to cooperate with, and assist, the Court in
fulfilling the overarching purposes and, in particular, in identifying
the real issues in dispute as early as possible and dealing with those
issues in the most efficient way possible.
M.E.J. Black
Chief Justice
5 May 2008
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