Posted by: Megan Tilbrook
I attended a great presentation earlier this week at the Planning and Environment Court, hosted by the Queensland Environmental Law Association in relation to e-Trials and how they will work in practice. An eTrial is the same as any other court hearing, however all documentary evidence is managed electronically by the courts.
The Courts are encouraging the parties to discuss the possibility of an e-Trial at the commencement of litigation, and it clear that there will be many more in the future with the Chief Judge suggesting that all trials should be electronic!
There can be some real savings for litigants if an e-Trial is conducted and as noted by the Courts it " removes the need for multiple physical copies of documents to be provided to the parties and Court, and reduces the time taken to sift through folders looking for an elusive document." This could obviously save Court time, and therefore cost. One recent example discussed during the seminar was a trial expected to last for 6 weeks being reduced to 5 weeks on the basis it was to be an e-Trial.
The concept of an e-Trial is particularly exciting for our firm, given that we already manage all our files electronically using a stringent paperless policy. For us, being able to proceed a matter to e-Trial will be seamless, more cost effective for our clients and reduce time and waste. Anderssen Lawyers were one of the first firms to conduct an 'e-Trial' in the Planning and Environment Court back in 2008. We have been developing paperless systems ever since to ensure that our technology and staff are poised ready for these advancements when they were available in the Courts.
The Courts are encouraging the parties to discuss the possibility of an e-Trial at the commencement of litigation, and it clear that there will be many more in the future with the Chief Judge suggesting that all trials should be electronic!
There can be some real savings for litigants if an e-Trial is conducted and as noted by the Courts it " removes the need for multiple physical copies of documents to be provided to the parties and Court, and reduces the time taken to sift through folders looking for an elusive document." This could obviously save Court time, and therefore cost. One recent example discussed during the seminar was a trial expected to last for 6 weeks being reduced to 5 weeks on the basis it was to be an e-Trial.
The concept of an e-Trial is particularly exciting for our firm, given that we already manage all our files electronically using a stringent paperless policy. For us, being able to proceed a matter to e-Trial will be seamless, more cost effective for our clients and reduce time and waste. Anderssen Lawyers were one of the first firms to conduct an 'e-Trial' in the Planning and Environment Court back in 2008. We have been developing paperless systems ever since to ensure that our technology and staff are poised ready for these advancements when they were available in the Courts.
