March 2020 will see the introduction of an electronic court registry in South Australia.  This will bring South Australia in line with other State court registries, as well as the Federal Court.  The move to an online registry will be more efficient for lawyers and help provide for more cost-effective litigation.  In order to implement the new registry and further increase efficiency, a new set of Court Rules which govern court processes will be introduced.

CourtSA

The online registry will be accessible by registered solicitors.  The online registry will provide efficient access to documents filed in proceedings, and a portal for filing documents will remove the need to physically attend the registry.

The online registry will reduce the need for solicitors to draft documents, for example an online template is filled in to generate an originating application. That automatically generated document can be printed off and served.

Uniform Civil Rules

Currently, the District, Supreme and Magistrates Courts each have their own set of governing rules.  The new 'Uniform Civil Rules' will replace the rules of each of the South Australian State Courts.  This will harmonise civil procedure across all levels of the State Court system and lead to more efficient case management and legal practice.

One of the significant changes introduced by the Uniform Civil Rules is the removal of mandatory settlement conferences.  These will no longer be prescribed as the first step after pleadings in the Supreme and District Courts.  Under the pre-litigation protocol it is expected that parties will attempt to negotiate an outcome by meeting face to face or over the telephone before even going to Court.  Accordingly, the Courts have decided that there is no utility in also having an additional requirement to meet after the proceedings are commenced.

A further important change is that the District Court will have specialist lists to deal with specific aspects of law.  This will include a Commercial List, and a Construction List.  This is intended to ensure that complex or technical disputes are dealt with more efficiently, and by Judges who are experienced in the matters likely to arise in the lists.

CCK Lawyers are experienced in conducting litigation at all levels of the South Australian Court system as well as in the Federal Court and other States.  The introduction of the new rules will not impact any litigation which has already been initiated in the Courts, but should make life easier for litigants and lawyers in the future.

If you need more information about how these changes may affect you, please contact our team on +61 8 8211 7955.