Disclosure Managment Plans: What does the Queensland Supreme Court expect?

Anyone involved in significant litigation will be all too familiar with the time and cost associated with disclosure. It's a task which can derail the expeditious resolution of a dispute.

The Queensland Supreme Court has shown it will relieve parties of their ordinary disclosure obligations in favour of a tailored disclosure management plan where appropriate. The purpose of a disclosure management plan is to limit the number of documents for review by setting out a proportionate and efficient approach to disclosure involving reasonable searches for documents.

Disclosure management plans are not new and were introduced into the Queensland disclosure landscape in 2012 via Supreme Court Practice Direction 11 of 2012.¹ Although the Practice Direction provides some guidance as to the type of information to be included in a disclosure management plan, the precise content and level of detail required has largely been left to agreement between the parties (which is