InBrief

Beginning on 2 February 2009, the first day of Law Term, the New South Wales District Registry of the Federal Court will introduce a system of expedited hearings and�judgment in appropriate cases.�The�new Expedition List will be�supervised by�the expedition judge, which, until further notice,�will be the Hon Justice Emmett.

The general nature of the new expedition r�gime is that a party will be able to request that a proceeding be entered in an “expedition list”, in which case the first directions hearing in the proceeding will take place before the judge in charge of the list. If the case is appropriate for the list that judge will ensure that the case is heard, and so far as possible judgment delivered, on dates and within times of which the parties will be aware from the outset. If the docket judge is not able to commit to the timetable because of other hearings or other commitments, the list judge will find another judge who is in a position to do so.

The new r�gime will depend for its success on a commitment of the parties through their legal representatives to its objectives. Particular features will be tight timetables, an absence or minimisation of interlocutory disputes, strict control of discovery (if any), and close liaison between the list judge and the judge who is to hear the matter. Learn more>

15 December 2008

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