Pressing need for more magistrates in state's Local Courts
Advocating for more resources for the state's courts and tribunals including additional Local Court Magistrates in regional areas, is a key priority in 2021 for the Law Society of NSW President, Juliana Warner.
Ms Warner, who is meeting with local solicitors from the Clarence River & Coffs Harbour Regional Law Society on Monday 22 February 2021, said the NSW Local Court is the busiest jurisdiction in both the state and the Commonwealth.
"The Local Court has been described by the NSW Attorney General as the 'backbone of the legal system', dealing with 96% of all criminal prosecutions and 90% of all civil litigation," Ms Warner said.
"In addition to the timely replacement of retiring magistrates, it's been estimated that at least 10 new magistrates are needed for the state's Local Courts and Coroner's Court, including an additional magistrate for Coffs Harbour Local Court" Ms Warner said.
"The lack of additional magistrates increases the workload on our judiciary and court staff, which inevitably leads to pressured court sittings – this in turn impacts victims, witnesses, the accused and members of the public, particularly in rural areas.
The Local Court clears some 78,000 civil cases and more than 340,000 criminal cases a year. In 2019, NSW had 139 magistrates who presided in the Local Court and Children's Court (of which 118 were solely engaged in its core criminal and civil jurisdiction). As of February 2021, that number has increased by just one magistrate to 140.
In 2019, Coffs Harbour Local Court had 4,601 new general criminal matters and 4,625 finalised criminal matters.
Ms Warner said the situation has become more pressing due to the unintended consequences of new laws allowing domestic violence complainants to give evidence by Audio Visual Link (AVL) in a closed court.
"The Chief Magistrate has advised the Law Society that the Local Court does not have the AVL resources to give effect to the new legislation without exacerbating delays," she said.
"This means the time standard for listing and finalising domestic violence matters in the court will increase from three months to six months.
"I acknowledge the $150 million investment the NSW government has made in the latest budget to maintain and upgrade our courts and other justice infrastructure including $54 million invested over three years to deliver a digital transformation of NSW courts – from upgrading or installing new audio-visual links to digitising court files.
"Much good will come out of this 'innovative and flexible future' but one thing hasn't changed – the need for adequate court resources and support of the 'human' kind.
"The Law Society has raised concerns about the resourcing inadequacies in our local courts with the Attorney General and we intend to continue to politely but firmly call on the government for more magistrates."
Ms Warner said she hoped to spend a good deal of her tenure travelling across NSW, advocating for more resources for the state's courts and tribunals, engaging with solicitors, and promoting the good work that they are undertaking in the community.
"It is the goodwill and effort of the profession that ensures that vulnerable people in our state receive proper representation and the access to justice that they require," Ms Warner said.
"Solicitors are an important part of a local community, volunteering time, energy and expertise to make our society better.
"You only have to look at the way our profession responded in wake of the 2019 and 2020 summer bushfires; providing hundreds of hours of pro bono legal work to help families, individuals, small businesses and farmers," she said.
The Law Society of NSW is the peak body for the state's 36,000 solicitors which equates to almost half of lawyers in Australia.
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