Corrs in Brief: Creating Cultural Change: Moving Away from the Adversarial Nature of Litigation

Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, introduced legislation on Wednesday 16 June to improve access to justice by requiring people to take ‘genuine steps’ to resolve their legal disputes before going to court.

If enacted, the Civil Dispute Resolution Bill 2010 (the Bill) will require prospective litigants in federal proceedings to lodge a statement with the court (at the same time as they commence proceedings) detailing what genuine steps they have taken to resolve their dispute or, if they haven’t, the reasons why. The responding party then has to file a statement stating whether they agree with the ‘genuine steps’ statement, and if not, why.