20100601 Fee Waiver Letter

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1 June 2010 Chief Justice Marilyn Warren Supreme Court of Victoria 210 William Street MELBOURNE VIC 3000 Cc Rob Hulls, Attorney-General: [email protected] Dear Chief Justice Waiver of court fees in Victoria The Law Institute of Victoria (LIV) wishes to note concerns raised by our members in relation to waiver of court fees in Victoria. In late 2008 the LIV made a joint submission to Your Honour with the Federation of Community Legal Centre Victoria and the Public Interest Law Clearing Housing concerning access to justice issues associated with applications for waiver of court fees in pro bono matters and other similar contexts. i In this submission the LIV commented on aspects of current processes for waiver of court fees that can create structural barriers to access to justice and put forth several suggestions for streamlining fee waiver processes in Victoria. While awaiting Your Honour’s response, the LIV has continued to monitor the access to justice implications of waiver of court fees in Victoria. Recently, the LIV’s Access to Justice Committee has been made aware of some uncertainty in relation to the availability of fee waivers for corporations, as exemplified in Justice Byrne’s comments in Re Vasiliou [2009] VSC 286, decided in July last year. In that case Andrew Vasiliou appealed the refusal of an application for fee waiver, which was lodged by a corporation of which Mr Vasiliou was the sole director. ii Although Justice Byrne ultimately chose not to review the decision, His Honour made comments in obiter to the effect that a corporation is not intended to be the beneficiary of a fee waiver under Victorian legislation. The Access to Justice Committee notes that corporations are entitled to benefit from fee waiver in other Australian jurisdictions. In the Federal Court, corporations are expressly permitted to apply for a fee waiver.iii Governing legislation in New South Wales also appears to indicate that a corporation can benefit from a fee waiver. iv The LIV seeks Your Honour’s views on this issue. The LIV would also be pleased to receive your views on the comment and proposals put forth in our submission of December 2008. Please contact Laura Helm, Policy Adviser, on (03) 96079380 or [email protected] in connection with this matter. Yours faithfully Steven Stevens President Law Institute of Victoria i A copy of this submission has been enclosed for your reference. ii This decision is available from: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/vsc/2009/286.html iii Schedule 3, r.11 Federal Court of Australia Regulations 2004 (Cth). iv R.11 Civil Procedure Regulation 2005 (NSW). .

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