New Federal Civil Dispute Resolution Legislation Passed

The Civil Dispute Resolution Bill 2010 was recently passed by the Federal Parliament on 24 March 2011. The key aim of the new legislation is to improve access to justice by encouraging parties to take “genuine steps” to resolve their disputes before commencing formal legal proceedings in the Federal Court or the Federal Magistrates Court.

As stated in the Explanatory Memorandum accompanying the Bill the aims of the Bill are to:

• change the adversarial culture often associated with disputes

• have people turn their minds to resolution before becoming entrenched in a litigious position, and where a dispute cannot be resolved, ensuring that if a matter does progress to court, the issues are properly identified, ultimately reducing the time required for a court to determine the matter.

The Bill implements recommendations made by the National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Council following its recent inquiry into the use of ADR in the federal civil justice system and the publication of its subsequent report in November 2009 entitled The Resolve to Resolve: Embracing ADR to improve access to justice in the federal jurisdiction.

You can read more about the new law in an article by Norton Rose recently posted to Mondaq and for those who subscribe to our Law One Australian Legislation product you can read the Bill, the various parliamentary speeches and explanatory memorandum online. If you are not a subscriber do not hesitate to contact us for more information or a free trial.