2019 News

Judicial Newsletter

Volume 11 Issue 3 (October 2019) (PDF , 1.0 MB) of the Court's Judicial Newsletter is now available.

Bushfire Risk

22 November 2019

As the bushfire situation in NSW remains volatile the Court continues to monitor onsite Court views and s 34 conciliations with the assistance of the parties. If parties have safety concerns can they please contact the Registry on 9113 8200 or by Online Court.

Bushfire Risk

12 November 2019

The Court is closely monitoring the bushfire risk and the warnings that are currently in place across NSW.

The Court has made alternative arrangement for conciliation conferences and hearings that are scheduled to commence or be conducted on site over the course of the next few days that are in high risk areas. Those parties have already been notified of these changes. No changes in current listing arrangements should otherwise be assumed.

If parties to proceedings have questions or concerns about the conduct of conciliation conferences and hearings commencing on site, please contact the Court on 9113 8200 or through the message function in Online Court.

Court Vacation 2019-2020

22 October 2019

The Judges' fixed vacation begins on 23 December 2019 and the first day of term in 2020 will be Monday, 3 February 2020.

A Duty Judge will be available during the fixed vacation for urgent matters.

Matters may be listed for s34 conferences, mediations and hearing before Commissioners throughout the fixed vacation period except for the public holidays and the public service holiday on Friday, 27 December 2019.

The final Registrar's directions hearing list for 2019 will be on Friday, 20 December 2019. The Registrar's directions hearing list will resume on Monday, 20 January 2020.

Both Online Registry and Online Court will be operating 24 hours a day as normal during the vacation period and parties are encouraged to avail themselves of these resources. Applications, appeals, notice of motion and subpoenas can continue to be filed by Online Registry. Online Court can continue to seek directions and also access orders for subpoenas and notices to produce throughout the vacation.

Information on Registry opening hours over the Xmas break is available here.

The 2018 AustLII Database Metrics and Statistics for the Court

18 September 2019

AustLII has provided the database metrics and statistics for the Court in 2018. They can be accessed through this link.

A comparison between 2017 and 2018 shows that, during 2018, there were 412 new citations of this Court's decisions. Although primarily in other decisions of this Court (internal citation), there were also two new citations of this Court's decisions in New Zealand and there were regular citations in other Australian jurisdictions.

During 2018, decisions of this Court were cited in all Australian states and territories as well as in the Federal jurisdiction. Details of frequency of citation can be seen in the table “Citations by database” in the full metrics information.

The historic rate of citation trend line shows that there has been a plateauing of the increase in citation of this Court's decisions but that the annual rate of citation has remained above 900 for the past two years. Citations during 2018 have included an immigration case in the Federal Court (Buadromo v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection [2017] FCA 1592) and a contempt case in the Victorian Supreme Court (Alpass  v Hession [2017] VSC 748) – to give but two examples of the eclectic range of cases where decisions of this Court are cited.

New Judge Announced

4 September 2019

Attorney General Mark Speakman SC today announced the appointment of barrister Sandra Duggan SC as a judge of the Land and Environment Court. View the media release. Ms Duggan SC will be sworn in on 10 September 2019 at 9am in the Banco Court, Law Courts Building.

Ms Duggan is a leading barrister in planning and environmental law.  After initially practising as a solicitor from 1988, Ms Duggan was called to the Bar in 1995 and was appointed a Senior Counsel in 2010, specialising in local government, planning, environmental, mining and property law. She holds a combined Arts/Law degree from Macquarie University and is currently completing a Master of Archaeological Science degree at the Australian National University. 

Throughout her career Ms Duggan has advised and appeared for all parties to planning and environment disputes, including local government, State government, developers (corporate and individual) and community groups. 

Ms Duggan has been actively involved with legal professional bodies, including serving as President of the Environmental and Planning Law Association of NSW (EPLA), Chair of the Women Barristers Forum, member of the Bar Association Practice Development Committee and managing Editor of the Environmental Law Reporter. 

New Acting Commissioner Appointments

4 September 2019

The Chief Judge is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Philip Clay SC and Ms Maureen Peatman as Acting Commissioners of the Court for the period commencing 4 September 2019 and expiring on 3 September 2020.

Acting Commissioner Philip Clay

Mr Clay SC holds the degrees of Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws (University of New South Wales) and a Diploma of Legal Practice.  Mr Clay was admitted as a solicitor in 1979 and was called to the Bar in 1992. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2011.

Mr Clay has 39 years applied experience as practising lawyer. At the Bar, Mr Clay has specialised in planning and environmental law work, primarily in the Land and Environment Court, but also in the Supreme Court of NSW, Court of Appeal and High Court of Australia.

Mr Clay has been actively involved in legal professional bodies, serving as President of the Environmental and Planning Law Association (NSW) (2010-2012) and has also assisted the NSW Bar Association in continuing professional development programmes, including the Bar Reader's Course.

Acting Commissioner Maureen Peatman

Ms Peatman holds a Diploma of Law (Solicitor's Admission Board) from the University of Sydney. She has over 35 years applied experience as a solicitor specialising in environment and planning law, valuation law and compulsory acquisition law.

The compulsory acquisition cases in which she has been involved have included cases involving the power to acquire land, simple acquisitions of land, and complex matters.

Ms Peatman has been actively involved in legal professional bodies, including serving on the Executive and as Vice President of the Environmental Planning Law Association (NSW), establishing the Australian Environment and Planning Law Group of the Law Council of Australia and serving as Chair (2004-2008), and serving on the Executive of the Legal Practice Section of the Law Council of Australia (2012-present), including as Chair and Deputy Chair.

2018 Annual Review

23 July 2019

The Court's Annual Review (PDF , 1.1 MB) for 2018 is now available. 

New Fee Schedule

12 July 2019

The Civil Procedure Amendment (Fees) Regulation 2019 and Criminal Procedure Amendment (Fees) Regulation 2019 has increased the Court's fees by 1.75% effective from 12 July 2019. The fee schedule is now available.

Judicial Newsletter

9 July 2019

Volume 11 Issue 2 (June 2019) (PDF , 824.0 KB) of the Court's Judicial Newsletter is now available. 

Judicial Newsletter

25 March 2019 

Volume 11 Issue 1 (PDF , 826.1 KB) (February 2019) of the Court's Judicial Newsletter is now available.

New Class 3 - Compensation Claims Practice Note

15 March 2019

The Practice Note – Class 3 Compensation Claims dated 15 July 2011 has been replaced with a new Practice Note (PDF , 356.1 KB) that:

• requires early identification of areas of proposed expert evidence and of the proposed experts;
• shortens the times for taking procedural steps in compensation claim proceedings; and
• sets out the standard directions which will be made if the compensation claim hearing is to be conducted on a paperless basis.

The new Practice Note  (PDF , 356.1 KB)commences on 15 March 2019.