Annual Review 2019
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Annual Review 2019 Supreme Court of New South Wales CONTENTS Foreword by Chief Justice of New South Wales, the Honourable T F Bathurst AC, the 17th Chief Justice of New South Wales 3 1 Court Profile 4 • The Court’s jurisdiction and Divisions 5 • Who makes the decisions? 9 – The Judges 9 – The Acting Judges 10 – Appointments 10 – Retirements 11 – The Associate Judges 11 – The Registrars 11 • Supporting the Court: the Registry 13 2 Caseflow Management 14 • Overview by jurisdiction 15 • Regional sittings of the Court 21 • Alternative dispute resolution 21 3 Court Operations 23 • Overview of operations by jurisdiction 24 • Timeliness 31 – Measurement against benchmarks 31 – Listing delays 32 • Use of alternative dispute resolution 33 4 Education and Public Information 34 • Judicial officer education 35 • Public education programme 36 • The role of the Media Manager 37 5 Other Aspects of the Court’s work 39 • Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 39 • Law Courts Library 39 • Admission to the legal profession and appointment of public notaries 40 • Admission under the mutual recognition Acts 40 • Administration of the Costs Assessment Scheme 41 • Pro Bono Scheme 42 • Judicial Assistance Program 42 6 Appendices 43 (I) Court statistics – comprehensive table of statistics 44 (II) The Court’s committees and user groups 54 (III) Other Judicial Activity: conferences, speaking engagements, publications, appointments to 69 legal and cultural organisations, delegations and international assistance, and commissions in overseas courts 2 FOREWORD BY THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF NEW SOUTH WALES It is my pleasure to present the 2019 Annual Review The new Practice Note for the Bails List of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. It commenced in June 2019. Since the introduction is essential for the rule of law in our democratic of the Practice Note, the listing delay for bail society that the Court continues to maintain the applications has become markedly less volatile. confidence of the people of New South Wales. This Of note, during the final three months of 2019, the Review is an important resource in this pursuit as it withdrawal rate for Bails List applications was 18%, provides a transparent and comprehensive overview a significant reduction from the rate during the same of the structure, operation and activities of the period in 2018 (68%). Court. This enables the public to see and scrutinise Of course, the statistics in this Review only reveal how justice is administered in the state’s superior so much. It is important to remember that these court of record. figures do not, and cannot reflect the quality of The Supreme Court has an overriding obligation the justice administered in 2019 by the Court’s to facilitate the just, quick and cheap resolution of judicial officers and registrars. Nor do these figures disputes. This Review demonstrates that it has been reveal the breadth or complexity of the work another busy year for the Court as it discharges undertaken by the Court as the superior court of this obligation. New South Wales. It is pleasing to see the Court’s performance in 2019 brought with it a considerable number of new 2019 against national benchmarks. The percentage appointments. In my foreword last year, I welcomed of cases less than 12 months old remained steady Justice Andrew Bell, who was appointed as the in exceeding the national standard in the Court of President of the Court of Appeal in January after Appeal at 93% of cases and in the Court of Criminal the appointment of the former President, Justice Appeal at 97%. Despite the number of pending Margaret Beazley, as Governor of New South Wales. cases in the Common Law Division increasing I am also very pleased to welcome Justices Patricia by 11% in 2019, the percentage of civil cases in Henry, Mark Ierace and Richard Cavanagh who were the Common Law Division less than 12 months also appointed to the Supreme Court in 2019. I am old remained fairly consistent at 68%. Similarly, I confident that the calibre of these appointments note that whilst the age profile of pending cases will enable the Court to continue its excellence in in the Equity Division worsened slightly at 65% of facilitating the resolution of disputes in our state. cases being less than 12 months old (from 67% in Finally, I express my sincere thanks and gratitude 2018), the number of filings in the Equity Division for the support and hard work of my colleagues increased by 3%. This increase in the number of and the staff of the Supreme Court during 2019. filings particularly reflects the notable increase in the This Review is testament to their commitment to number of filings in the Corporations List by 40%. delivering the highest levels of service to the people The Supreme Court continues to support mediation of New South Wales. as a method of alternative dispute resolution for civil proceedings. This is demonstrated in the continued increase in the rate of referring cases to mediation. In 2019 there were 1,407 referrals, a 20% increase from the 1,169 referrals in 2018. The Hon T F Bathurst AC Chief Justice of New South Wales 3 1 COURT PROFILE • The Court’s jurisdiction and Divisions • Who makes the decisions? • Supporting the Court: the Registry 4 THE COURT’S JURISDICTION AND DIVISIONS The Supreme Court of New South Wales: our Figures 1.1 and 1.2 illustrate the court hierarchy in place in the court system New South Wales and the gateways to appeal in The court system in New South Wales is structured the criminal and civil jurisdictions. on a hierarchical basis. The Supreme Court is the superior court of record in New South Wales and, Court of Appeal as such, has an inherent jurisdiction in addition to its The Court of Appeal is responsible for hearing specific statutory jurisdiction. appeals in civil matters against the decisions of the judicial officers of the Supreme Court, other courts, The Supreme Court has appellate and trial commissions and tribunals within the State, as jurisdictions. The appellate courts are the: prescribed in the Supreme Court Act 1970. • Court of Appeal • Court of Criminal Appeal. Court of Criminal Appeal The trial work of the criminal and civil jurisdictions is The Court of Criminal Appeal hears appeals from divided between two Divisions: criminal proceedings in the Supreme Court, the Land and Environment Court, the District Court and • Common Law Division the Drug Court. Appeals may challenge convictions • Equity Division. and sentences imposed upon indictment or in the This structure facilitates the convenient dispatch of trial court’s summary jurisdiction, or interlocutory business in accordance with the provisions under orders made by the trial court. Appeals from section 38 of the Supreme Court Act 1970. committal proceedings in the Local Court may also be heard in certain circumstances. Section 23 of the Supreme Court Act 1970 provides the Court with all jurisdiction necessary for the administration of justice in New South Wales. The Supreme Court has supervisory jurisdiction over other courts and tribunals in the State. The Court generally exercises this supervisory jurisdiction through its appellate courts. The Land and Environment Court of New South Wales is a specialist court of statutory jurisdiction. The Judges of this court have the status of Supreme Court Judges. The District Court of New South Wales is an intermediate court, and its jurisdiction is determined by statute. The Local Court of New South Wales sits at the base of the hierarchy of New South Wales courts and has broad criminal and civil jurisdictions. The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) was established by the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013. The NCAT is the single point of access for specialist tribunal services in NSW, consolidating the work of 22 former tribunals. There are 4 divisions of the NCAT: the Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division, the Consumer and Commercial Division, the Guardianship Division and the Occupational Division. 5 Sittings of the Court of Criminal Appeal are The Division deals with all serious personal injury organised on a roster basis, taking into account and contractual actions, in which the Court has the other regular judicial duties and commitments unlimited jurisdiction. The civil business of the of the Judges who form the Court’s bench. The Division also comprises: Judges who sit in the Court of Criminal Appeal are • claims for damages the Chief Justice, the President, the Judges of the • claims of professional negligence Court of Appeal, the Chief Judge at Common Law • claims relating to the possession of land and Judges of the Common Law Division. During 2019, most benches in the Court of Criminal Appeal • claims of defamation comprised at least two Common Law Judges, with • administrative law cases seeking the review of the presiding Judge being the Chief Justice, the decisions by government and administrative President, a Judge of Appeal, or the Chief Judge at tribunals Common Law. • appeals from the Local Court. The Court of Criminal Appeal List Judge throughout Equity Division 2019 was Justice R A Hulme. The Equity Division exercises the traditional equity jurisdiction, dealing with claims for remedies other Common Law Division than damages and recovery of debts. The Division’s The Common Law Division hears both criminal and work includes cases arising from contractual civil matters. The criminal matters involve homicide actions or rights of property, and disputes relating to offences and offences where the prosecution seeks partnerships, trusts or deceased estates. life imprisonment. Other matters involving serious criminality or matters of public interest may be The Division hears applications brought under brought before the Court with the Chief Justice’s numerous statutes, including the Corporations approval. The Judges of the Common Law Division Act 2001 (Cth), the Succession Act 2006, and the also hear bail applications, matters concerning Property (Relationships) Act 1984.