International Programs
Activities by area of expertise - Systems, practice and procedure
Court and Judicial Administration
Effective administration is a prerequisite to a well-governed court which is accessible to those it serves. The Federal Court prides itself in its ability to deploy its resources in the most effective and efficient manner possible to deliver the business of the Court quickly and inexpensively. The Court has worked hard over many years to continually improve its internal self-administrative systems and processes by making fundamental changes to the way the court operates, which it shares for the benefit of other jurisdictions. The Court has hosted finance and human resources visits which have focused on reinforcing best practice for the management of records and assets, and recruitment and change management processes. To date, the Federal Court has worked with Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tonga, the Cook Islands and Nauru on related projects.
Materials: Public Information and Complaints Handling Toolkits, developed as part of the Pacific Judicial Development Programme (PJDP), are available for download and use.
Case management
Maximising the efficiency and effectiveness with which cases are managed can improve access to justice and increase public confidence in the court. The Federal Court continually strives to improve efficiency and reduce delays without dispensing with quality and the capacity to deliver appropriate outcomes to those who come before the court. In this regard, the Federal Court has assisted the Pacific Region, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh and Indonesia to make similar improvements to the approach, electronic systems and processes used to manage cases as well as devising high level action plans for identifying case management issues. The Federal Court has also administered workshops aimed at assisting courts in introducing uniform time standards and arriving at strategies to reduce and prevent delay from recurring.
Materials: Time Goals and Backlog Reduction Toolkits, developed as part of the Pacific Judicial Development Programme (PJDP), are available for download. The Case Management and Technology Services Toolkits will be available for download shortly.
Court-annexed mediation
For many years, alternative dispute resolution and mediation has been an important tool assisting the resolution of disputes before the Federal Court. The expertise developed over these years has enabled the Court to assist a number of jurisdictions to develop the systems, processes and experience necessary to offer court-annexed mediation as an alternative to litigation and case management option. The Federal Court has implemented and developed court-annexed mediation (CAM) in the Pacific Region, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia resulting in backlog reduction.
Materials: Implementing CAM and Mediation Training Toolkits will be available for download shortly.
Judicial benchbooks
Benchbooks are indispensable resources for judges the world-over and critical to those with little or no access to foundational or ongoing legal and judicial training. The Federal Court has assisted a number of jurisdictions to develop and/or revise benchbooks: Vietnam, Samoa (pdf), Tonga (pdf), Cook Islands (pdf), Niue (pdf), Kiribati (pdf) and Tuvalu (pdf).
