Snapshot
- The new Court of Appeal Practice Note commenced on January 1st.
- It aims to streamline the information contained in the previous practice note and to present it in a clearer and more accessible manner.
- Among other things, various filing and listing timeframes have been updated, there are new requirements for written submissions and electronic appeal books have been introduced.
- The Court expects that the profession will have a thorough working knowledge both of the Rules of Court and of the Practice Note. The latter specifies the Court‘s usual administrative arrangements relating to the conduct of an appeal.
On 13 December 2017, the Court of Appeal issued a new Practice Note, which commenced on 1 January 2018. In developing the Practice Note, the Court consulted with both the New South Wales Bar Association and the Law Society.
It is necessary at the outset to emphasise the importance of compliance with the procedural rules and the practice requirements of the Court. Section 56 of the Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) provides that the overriding purpose of the Act is to ‘facilitate the just, quick and cheap resolution of the real issues in the proceedings’. The requirements of the section underpin the efficiency of the legal system, promote confidence in the administration of justice, and foster a successful commercial environment (see: Aon Risk Services Australia Ltd v Australian National University (2009) 239 CLR 175, [100]-[103] (‘Aon Risk‘); White v Overland [2001] FCA 1333, [4]; Richards v Cornford (No 3) [2010] NSWCA 134, [42]). In Aon Risk at [137], Heydon J, after observing that ‘[c]ommercial life depends on the timely and just payment of money’, stated that ‘[t]he efficiency or inefficiency of the courts has a bearing on the health or sickness of commerce’.
Section 56(4) expressly requires that legal practitioners must not cause a party to be put in breach of the statutory requirements. Costs consequences for practitioners may result (s 56(5)).
