New Laws to end the need for Litigation

On 1 August 2011, Australia will see the commencement of the Civil Dispute Resolution Act 2011 which is aimed at encouraging the resolution of disputes before heading to court. The Commonwealth Government has expressed its optimism that the introduction of the Act will see a significant drop in judicial litigations.

From 1 August, parties to a court action will be required to lodge a statement about what steps they have taken to resolve their dispute before commencing judicial proceedings in Australian Federal Courts. Attorney General Robert McClelland said that people need to be able to reach early resolution of their dispute without escalating into court proceedings and this Act will accommodate just that.

The Act is an attempt to detract from the currently institutionalised adversarial system of justice that is prominent in Australia. In this system, victory is always the key priority as opposed to resolution. With dispute resolutions being encouraged, “parties can benefit from exchanging information, narrowing the issues in dispute and exploring options for resolution leading to more matters being settled by agreement earlier on, before significant costs have been incurred and legal positions become entrenched.”

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