In brief
The Civil Dispute Resolution Act 2011 (Cth) requires
parties to take genuine steps to resolve a dispute before
proceedings are commenced in the Australian Federal Court or
Federal Magistrates Court. Both the parties to disputes and the
lawyers acting for them have obligations under the Act.
The object of the Civil Dispute Resolution Act 2011
(Cth) (Act), recently enacted by Parliament, is "to ensure
that, as far as possible, people lake genuine steps to resolve
disputes before certain civil proceedings are instituted".
Requirements of the Act
The Act imposes three requirements:
- when a party commences proceedings in the Federal Court or
Federal Magistrates Court they must file with the court a genuine
steps statement setting out either genuine steps that have been
taken to seek to resolve the dispute, or the reasons why no such
steps have been taken;
