Skills for Dealing with Self-Represented Litigants in Family Law
With the numbers of self-represented litigants rising so too does the likelihood of lawyers and judges facing unique challenges when encountering an unrepresented party. Many of these litigants know little about the legal process which creates an added level of complexity for you and your clients. Take away practical suggestions for expert practitioners to avoid any inadvertent delays or problems when facing these increasingly common and challenging situations. WEB215N04
Description
Attend and earn 4 CPD units in Professional Skills
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
Chair: The Hon. Peter I Rose AM KC, Clarence Chambers; Former Judge of the Family Court of Australia
9.00am to 9.05am Opening Comments by the Chair
9.05am to 10.00am Expectations of the Bench
Courts have a duty to see that all parties, including those who do not have legal representation, receive procedural fairness.
- Examine the guidelines given to the Federal Circuit Court by the two appellate courts with which it deals in its family law and general federal law jurisdictions.
- Consider a High Court decision which, it is argued, sets a very high standard for courts dealing with self-represented litigants
- Analyse whether the High Court has set out a counsel of perfection for busy trial courts in trying to ascertain what self-represented litigants really want and whether the concept of the ‘level playing field’ is a myth
- Consider the difficulties faced by lawyers when dealing with an unrepresented party
- Take away some suggestions to help you in these all-too common situations
Presented by Stephen Scarlett OAM RFD, Edmund Barton Chambers; Former Judge, Federal Circuit Court of Australia and Senior Children’s Magistrate, Children’s Court of NSW
10.00am to 10.45am Interacting with a Self-Represented Litigant
- How much should you interact with the SR litigant to make it easy?
- What are the benefits of explaining what they have to prove?
- Protecting yourself from inaccurate allegations and assertions by self-represented litigants
- Model litigant as a benchmark
- Plain English communication
- Managing non-compliance: practical steps to take to avoid any hold up in proceedings
- Advising your client and steps to take to keep costs down
- Dealing with ‘McKenzie Friends’
- Ethical obligations to litigants and court
Presented by Diana Perla, Principal, Diana Perla & Associates; Accredited specialist in Family Law
10.45am to 11.00am Morning Tea
11.00am to 12.15pm A Guide to Settlement Negotiations: Strategies & Real World Examples
Explore, with real life examples, how to manage the dynamics of settlement negotiations with unrepresented parties and dealing with ethical conundrums.
Presented by Skye Hayward, Barrister, Lachlan Macquarie Chambers and Amanda Little, Principal, Amanda Little & Associates; Accredited Specialist in Family Law, Mediator, Collaborative Family Lawyer
12.15pm to 1.05pm Negotiating and Drafting Orders with a View to Clarity for the Non-practitioner
- How to achieve clarity
- How to communicate the meaning of orders to the self-represented, and to clients
- Managing non-compliance: How best to avoid delays in proceedings?
- Meeting contravention applications
Presented by Mark MacDiarmid, Principal, Mark MacDiarmid Family Law; Accredited Specialist in Family Law; Independent Childrens Lawyer
1.05pm to 1.15pm Final Q&A and Closing Comments by the Chair