The Family Law Courts will be commencing court ordered Alternative Dispute Resolution Conferences in February 2021, known as Dispute Resolution Conferences (DRC).
The Family Law Courts are introducing these new conferences to assist families to resolve parenting matters with the assistance of a Registrar and a Family Consultant.
From 1 January 2021, we will be providing an appearance fee for practitioners who appear at a subsequent readiness hearing in child protection matters heard in the Children’s Court of Victoria.
The fee will be available until Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) reaches a cap of subsequent readiness hearings. This approach is necessary to carefully manage VLA’s child protection expenditure. The date the cap is reached will depend on the number of such hearings listed by the court in coming months.
We recognise that during the pandemic our ways of working have changed and have introduced greater flexibility for payment of fees to Counsel working in the Court of Appeal.
The Law Institute of Victoria is offering specialist accreditation in the area of family law in 2021. We encourage lawyers undertaking work for legally aided clients to apply for specialist accreditation.
From October, the Quality Audit team will be in contact with family violence panel members to support practitioners to meet their obligations as outlined in the Practice Standards.
These audits will help us ensure the best possible experience for the people we are assisting in family violence matters, as well as promote practitioners who are leading the way, delivering great services to their clients.
The Magistrates’ Court of Victoria has recently issued Practice Direction 17 of 2020. It is aimed at progressing cases in the backlog and increasing the use of online hearings where appropriate.
Practice Direction 17 requires practitioners to take the following steps.
Practitioners should enter their appearance on Electronic Filing Appearance System (EFAS) for all summary stream criminal matters where they are acting.
The Children’s Court of Victoria has recently issued Practice Direction 11 of 2020 for matters in the criminal division, as part of its ongoing response to COVID-19.
Unless the court directs otherwise all proceedings will be held remotely by audio visual link (including WebEx).
