To ensure that civil claims in the Supreme Court are resolved efficiently, the Chief Justice of Queensland has issued Practice Direction 18 of 2018 (PDF, 191.0 KB).
This page provides information on how to effectively get ready for trial and follow the Practice Direction's requirements. It includes templates, examples, and tips to assist litigants and legal practitioners.
Case management directions
Parties can adapt the draft case management direction templates (DOCX, 97.3 KB) to the needs of a particular case. These templates help create:
- a Document Management Plan
- a List of Issues
- a Trial Plan
Example document plans
Once the claim is filed and served, the parties must discuss and agree on the types of documents to be disclosed and how they should be disclosed. The parties should record their agreement in a document plan (see example formats below):
Communicating with the court
When contacting the Resolution Registrar or Judge’s Associate, follow these rules:
- use email (apart from at court or in a conference) and include all parties as recipients
- only discuss non-controversial matters, such as agreed plans or scheduling
- do not ask for legal advice.
Always ensure the other parties are of, and agree to, your communication. Simply copying them into an email is not enough.
Resolving disagreements
If the parties are unable to reach an agreement on a Document Plan, List of Issues, or Trial Plan, the following steps may be taken, depending on the situation.
Conference
Email the Resolution Registrar to request a case conference.
Directions hearing
If the claim is under the supervision of a judge and a conference cannot be agreed upon, contact the Judge's Associate or the Supervised Case List Manager via email to request a directions hearing.
Interlocutory application
If the claim is not supervised by a judge, either party may file an interlocutory application to be heard by a judge in the Applications list.
Attending a case conference
At a case conference, parties meet with the Resolution Registrar at the Brisbane Supreme Court, QEII Courts Complex to discuss issues and agree on a timetable for next steps. Parties outside of the greater Brisbane area may participate in the conference by telephone.
Progress updates
Six months after the Defence is filed, the Supreme Court will email parties to complete a Questionnaire (DOCX, 19.4 KB). It will need to include:
- updates on the claim’s progress
- drafts of the List of Issues or Trial Plan.
If these have not yet been prepared the parties should state what steps need to be carried out before the documents can be prepared and when these steps will be completed.
If additional steps need to be undertaken or changes to the existing timetable are required, the parties should provide a draft order for directions in Word format, along with the completed Questionnaire (and a signed Consent if the matter is not under judicial supervision).
