Date:

03/15/1999

Release Date: 15 March 1999


The Chief Justice of New South Wales, The Hon JJ Spigelman, today released details of the Supreme Court’s guidelines for the more efficient management of civil litigation using information technology.

“The guidelines have been developed to provide for and encourage the use of technology by both parties in civil litigation. These guidelines will mean more efficient management of matters at the preparation stage, not just saving lawyers’ time but also the courts’ time thereby reducing the cost of litigation,” said Chief Justice Spigelman.

“When pleadings, affidavits, statements and lists of documents or interrogatories are served upon a party, the recipient may ask for them to be provided in an agreed electronic form.

“With regards to documents subject to discovery, parties should consider exchanging databases, especially when the number of documents is in the vicinity of 500 documents,” he said.

During the early stage of the litigation and prior to the actual hearing, the parties will be expected to have used technology appropriately.

“Each party will be expected to have investigated the number and categories of documents likely to be discoverable; to agree with the other parties on whether and how to use technology to exchange lists of these documents; and to make informed submissions to the Court about whether and how technology should be used,” the Chief Justice said.

The full text of the guidelines (titled Practice Note 105: Use of Technology in Civil Litigation) is available from the Supreme Court’s web site: http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/sc