Who's afraid of the Civil Dispute Resolution Act and its requirement to take "genuine steps"?

Key Points:
Under the Civil Dispute Resolution Act, a person must take "genuine steps" to resolve a dispute before commencing proceedings in the Federal Court or Federal Magistrates Court.

After some delay following the election last year, the Civil Dispute Resolution Bill (Cth) has been passed by the Federal Parliament on 24 March 2011.

The new Civil Disputes Resolution Act 2011 will come into effect by 13 October 2011 at the latest, and will seek to ensure that, as far as possible, potential litigants take "genuine" pre-litigation steps to resolve their dispute before seeking the assistance of the courts.

Australian Government agencies need to understand the effect of these changes not only on their own litigation practices and procedures but the obligations they impose upon the other side.