Notice to the Profession

Dissolution of the ACT List

12 March 2024

1. The Federal Court of Australia currently operates a List for the case management of proceedings filed in the Court's ACT Registry. Justice Kennett is the current ACT List Judge, supported by Senior National Judicial Registrar Paul Farrell.
2. In the Notice to the Profession dated 14 February 2024, the Court advised that it would consult with the ACT Legal Profession as part of its process to determine if a proposal for the dissolution of the ACT List should be adopted.
3. The Court has now completed the consultation process on the proposal with the Profession. The feedback received was positive and supportive of the proposal. Accordingly, the Court will now proceed to dissolve the ACT List.
4. Matters which are filed in the ACT Registry will now be allocated to the docket of a NSW Judge for the applicable National Practice Area upon filing. Practitioners who currently have matters in the ACT List will be notified in due course of the Docket Judge to whom their matter has been allocated.
5. As previously indicated, the new procedure will enable the case management of each matter to be carried out by the Judge who generally will be hearing the matter through to completion, so more matter specific requirements and efficient timeframes can be built into case management orders by the Docket Judge. The ACT Profession will also benefit by providing practitioners with earlier exposure to a wider range of Federal Court Judges.
6. Existing duty arrangements for the ACT will remain in place. That is, any urgent duty matters in the ACT will be heard by the general or Commercial & Corporations Duty Judge in NSW who is "on duty" at the relevant time.
7. If practitioners have any questions about the transition of matters from the ACT List to Judges' dockets, they can email them to Senior National Judicial Registrar Paul Farrell at Assistant.FarrellR@fedcourt.gov.au.

Chief Justice Mortimer
12 March 2024