Do you know about the National Court Framework?

07/07/2015

The Federal Court is undergoing one of the most fundamental reforms in its history – the implementation of the National Court Framework (NCF). The key purpose of the NCF is to further modernise the court’s operations so that it is better placed to meet the demands of litigants nationally and regionally and to reinvigorate its approach to case management.

Under the NCF, the Federal Court will establish eight national practice areas (NPAs) that replace the traditional registry or state-based approach. The court began implementing the NCF with the commencement of the Commercial and Corporations NPA on 16 February 2015. The operation of the Commercial and Corporations NPA is consistent across the court nationally with matters being heard by a dedicated group of judges with special expertise in Commercial and Corporations.

To support the implementation of the NCF, some changes to the court’s eLodgment system were introduced on Monday, 29 June 2015. Court users will be required to select a NPA (and sub-area if applicable) when filing an originating application with the Federal Court. To assist court users identify which NPA is applicable, descriptions of each NPA and sub-areas are available on the Federal Court’s website.

The Federal Court has consulted widely with the legal profession regarding the NCF and the establishment of the NPAs, most recently, the Commercial & Corporations, Administrative and Constitutional Law and Human Rights NPAs. Further consultation with the profession will be undertaken over the coming months regarding practice and procedure relevant to each NPA with the view to the full implementation of the NCF later this year.