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County Court of Victoria Annual Report

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County Court of Victoria Annual Report County CouRt of VICtoRIA AnnuAl RepoRt 2008-09 This report provides a summary of the County Court’s strategic priorities, major projects and achievements for FY2008-09. mission, vALues AnD Key Achievements he County Court of Victoria (the Court) • Promote organisational excellence through represents the intermediate tier of the state’s procedural reform court hierarchy. It is the largest trial court in t • Recognise that our people are important the state of Victoria. ouR vision Key Achievements FoR 2008-09 The Court’s strategic priorities are outlined in the Our vision is to be a leader in providing a high quality, Annual Business Plan. The Court’s key achievements accessible and effi cient court system which ensures justice for 2008-09 are summarised below. for all at least cost to court users and the community. maintain judicial independence vALues • Annual seminars held to discuss the current legal The values of the judiciary are fundamental to the daily and judicial environment and to consider future work of the Court. Upon appointment, judges take an oath scenarios and their impact on Court operations of offi ce to do equal justice to all persons, to discharge the duties of offi ce according to the law and to act at all times • Ongoing professional development through to the best of their abilities without fear, favour or affection. participation in Judicial College of Victoria workshops and seminars ouR oBjectives • Universal access to Offi cers resources of Judicial The Court’s four main objectives as stated in the Court’s Offi cers Information Network (JOIN) Three Year Strategic Plan (2008 – 2011) are to: achieve strategic vision for the Court • Maintain a high level of community confi dence in • Accessible and responsive justice through the the Court development and implementation of an ADR pilot • Improve access to justice services program and the development and implementation of the County Koori Court pilot • Ensure timely and effi cient disposal of matters in the Court • Introduce an on site mental health assessment practitioner • Ensure effi cient administration of the Court • Upgrade to video-link facilities in regional courts to We embrace these objectives mindful of our meet current standards, particularly in respect to strategic priorities to: pre-recording evidence of child-witnesses in sexual • Maintain judicial independence offence matters • Achieve strategic vision for the Court m neW InItIAtIVeS c contents promote organisational excellence year at a glance 4 through procedural reform • Established a Registry and Associate Report of the Chief Judge 5 Quality Council • Implemented a document protocol and a data Chief executive offi cer’s Report 6 quality framework to ensure availability of high quality data to support business decisions new Initiatives 7 • Conducted website user focus groups and content review in preparation for website upgrade County Court in Victoria 12 • Streamlined the process for development and distribution of Judges’ Practice Notes engaging with the Community 14 • Established a County Court Environment Committee to consider options for reducing paper Criminal Jurisdiction 16 usage, reducing water and energy consumption, and making the Court more environmentally sustainable Civil Jurisdiction 20 • Implemented changes to the Case List Management System (CLMS) to ensure the smooth transition of Supporting Judges of the Court 26 data to the new Integrated Courts Management System (ICMS) Judicial professional Development 30 recognise that our people are important • Reviewed the Court’s induction program and Judges’ Contribution to Judicial Bodies training materials, and continued to promote and professional organisations 32 a learning culture • Implemented an electronic Performance Judges of the County Court 35 Management system • Introduced workforce planning for governance of the Court 36 Court Associates and Registry staff operating Statement and financial Summary 37 the year Ahead 38 2008-09 County CouRt of VICtoRIA AnnuAl RepoRt 3 yeAR At A gLAnce 2008/09 2007/08 % CHANGe totAl CoUNtY CoURt CASeS: Commenced 10,698 10,210 4.8% Finalised 9,952 9,952 0.0% Pending 9,375 9,220 1.7% Overall County Court Clearance Ratio (%) 93% 97.5% totAl CIVIl CASeS: Commenced 6,110 5,388 13.4% Finalised 5,516 5,328 3.5% Pending 6,223 5,856 6.3% Overall Civil Clearance Ratio (%) 90.3% 98.9% totAl CRImINAl CASeS (INClUDING APPeAlS): Commenced 4,588 4,822 -4.9% Finalised 4,436 4,624 -4.1% Pending 3,152 3,364 -6.3% Overall Criminal Clearance Ratio (%) 96.7% 95.9% CRImINAl tRIAlS AND PleAS: Commenced 2,174 2,493 -12.8% Finalised 2,231 2,426 -8.0% Pending 2,039 2,337 -12.8% Trials and Pleas Clearance Ratio (%) 102.6% 97.3% CRImINAl APPeAlS: Commenced 2,414 2,329 3.6% Finalised 2,205 2,198 0.3% Pending 1,113 1,027 8.4% Appeals Clearance Ratio (%) 91.3% 94.4% totAl ADoPtIoN CASeS: Applications Considered 71 94 -24.5% Adoption Orders Made 70 92 -23.9% Applications Pending 6 2 200.0% Our caseload – Finalised 9,952 civil and criminal cases Our people – Established the County Koori Court; Koori Court Project Manager recognised for excellence in bringing the Court and Koori Elders together Our facilities – Technology upgrades completed in Melbourne and Circuit courts; County Court maintains position as Victoria’s state-of-the art courthouse 4 County CouRt of VICtoRIA RepoRt oF the chieF juDge he County Court has taken on a number of new to over 2,400 in 2008-09. This initiatives as well as responding to a range of is an indicator of the potential tchallenges during the year. future work of the Court in this important area. neW initiAtives Two civil initiatives this year Our new initiatives (see pages 7-11) put us at the have been the fi nancial forefront of the collaborative work done by the higher counselling pilot program and courts on community based justice issues. In particular, the pro bono legal assistance we are proud of the work we have done to establish the pilot scheme. The Court is now Chief Judge County Koori Court. the principal trial court for personal injuries litigation Michael Rozenes The Judges have responded positively to the and has increasing responsibilities in the resolution implementation of additional services with respect to of major commercial disputes. However, almost 75% pre-sentence assessment. A fi rst step in this area has of court hearing time and judicial judgment writing been the establishment of a permanent offi ce within the continues to be devoted to the determination of serious County Court for Community Corrections to conduct injury applications, principally arising from work-place pre-sentence assessments. We have now added to that accidents and involving the Victorian WorkCover with the Sex Offender Clinical Assessment Project and Authority as a party. One of the Court’s critical more recently the Mental Health Assessment pilot. challenges, at present, is to fi nd a way to use appropriate These services are critical to appropriately informing the dispute resolution processes and other administrative judiciary in these areas. (See pages 7 and 8 of this report) procedures to free up scarce judicial resources for other urgent work in both the civil and criminal jurisdictions. cRiminAL juRisDiction ouR juDges We continued to face challenges arising from legislative change with respect to sex cases. It has been diffi cult The Judges of the Court are to be commended for their to respond to the time limitations with respect to diligence in attending to their responsibilities in court special hearings and sex trials whilst maintaining the along with their contributions to the management and commitment to the work of the general list. The impacts administration of the work of the court. It is evident have been felt particularly at the regional courts where in reading this report that our judges actively and the hearing of sex offence cases has often been at the unstintingly contribute as heads of lists, support me in expense of the general list. With sex offence cases more judicial management and committee work as well as often going to trial than those in the general list and undertaking considerable and increasing work loads in the increasing complexity of the law, our resources court, attending professional development programs and have been stretched to the limit. In June, we engaged a contributing to external committees. I commend them consultant to assist us in reviewing the circuit work in for their work. the hope of fi nding ways to improve our processes in During the year we welcomed six new Judges: Christine the next reporting year. Thornton, Mark Taft, Frank Saccardo, Mark Gamble, Howard Mason and Gerard Mullaly. We farewelled fi ve civiL juRisDiction long-serving Judges: Leo Hart, Roland Williams, David The work of the civil jurisdiction has been characterised Morrow, Tom Wodak and John Barnett. by a pro-active approach to expediting matters by It must be said that the resources of the court have extending the administrative mention process in been severely tested during the year. Whilst we accept the Damages and Compensation Lists (except for the intention of the legislation is to improve the justice WorkCover cases). The court is actively engaging in system, it is apparent that the changes bring with them the appropriate dispute resolution initiatives (see pages pressure on our resources which ought to have been 22 and 25), with some interesting outcomes in our pilot taken into account in planning for legislative change. work (see page 10). I am mindful that the implementation in the next The removal of the monetary limit of the Court’s civil reporting year of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009 and jurisdiction, from 1 January 2007, has resulted in a the Evidence Act 2008 will, initially at least, produce substantial increase in the number of cases commenced in additional demands on the judges and put pressure on the Commercial List, with a doubling of the cases initiated our listing processes.
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