The FCFCOA Regime: Insights from the Court Almost 6 Months On
Take the opportunity to hear directly from the FCFCOA on how the regime is operating nearly 6 months since its introduction. Hear from Senior Judicial Registrars and the Court Children’s Service about the Court’s expectations, where they see common mistakes and misinterpretations by practitioners. Explore how new case management pathways have been received, how FDR Court Conferences have been operating and the implementation of the new Court Lists. WEB222N11
Description
Attend and earn 3 CPD units in Professional Skills
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
Chair: Maurice Edwards, Special Counsel, Rafton Family Lawyers; Accredited Specialist in Family Law; Nationally Accredited Mediator and Accredited Arbitrator
2.00pm to 2.45pm New Case Management Pathway and Practice Directions: Review 7 months on
- Focusing on offers, compliance with the rules and pre-action procedure
- What is different?
- How is it been approached
- Interim Hearings: expectations, insights and common mistakes
Presented by Senior Judicial Registrar Andrea Evans, Executive Director - National Registrar Operations, Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia
2.45pm to 3.30pm FDR Court Conferences: How Are They Operating?
- What are the differences?
- How will the courts be approaching these new mediations – FDR
- What documents do you need to file?
- What are the expectations?
- Internal dispute resolution in parenting and financial matters
- Offers for parenting matters: tips and taps
- Settling and striking a deal for financial matters
- Examine how the Registrar/Court Child Expert partnership operates and brings value to the process
Presented by Senior Judicial Registrar Anne-Marie Rice, Executive Director – Dispute Resolution, Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia and Clare Swetenham, Director (Vic/Tas) - Court Children’s Service
3.30pm to 3.40pm Break
3.40pm to 4.30pm Role of the Court Child Expert
Presented by Janet Carmichael, Executive Director – Court Children’s Service
4.30pm to 5.15pm New Specialist Lists and Other New Court Initiatives
- National Contravention list: non-compliance with Financial and parenting orders
- COVID-19 List
- Lighthouse Project
Presented by Senior Judicial Registrar Brett McGrath, Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia
Presenters
Maurice Edwards
Maurice Edwards is an Accredited Family Law Specialist, Registered Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner (FDRP), Nationally Accredited Mediator and Accredited Arbitrator. He is a Collaborative Family Lawyer and is President of the Greater Sydney Collaborative Family Law Group. Maurice has developed an expertise in International Family Law parenting matters and has represented clients in cases under the Hague Child Abduction Convention in the Family Court of Australia, the Full Court of the Family Court and the High Court of Australia. He has trained in Japan specifically in the mediation of disputes relating to the Abduction Convention. Maurice is named in the Doyles Guide of Leading Family Law Mediators - NSW, 2019. Maurice has over 35 years’ experience in family law and is Special Counsel at Rafton Family Lawyers.
Janet Carmichael
Janet is the Executive Director of the Court Children’s Service in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. In this role, Janet is responsible for the work undertaken by the psychologists and social workers who are engaged by the Court to assist families, registrars and judges make decisions that are in the best interests of children. Prior to joining the Court in 2017, Janet held senior roles with CatholicCare Sydney and Relationships Australia NSW (managing counselling, mediation and men’s behaviour change programs and the Sydney City Family Relationship Centre) and with the Commonwealth Department of Veteran’s Affairs Open Arms program. Janet is a registered psychologist with over 30 years experience working children and families. She also holds a Master’s degree in management.
Senior Judicial Registrar Brett McGrath
Brett commenced his time at the Court as a Registrar with the Family Court of Australia and Federal Circuit Court of Australia in 2019 was selected as one of two National Registrars to oversee the implementation of the new National COVID-19 List, designed to triage and hear urgent family law matters arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. As well as being involved in the development and expansion of the Courts’ new parenting and property Dispute Resolution project and National COVID-19 List, Brett was appointed as a Senior Registrar of the Court in November 2020 and then again as a Senior Judicial Registrar of the new Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia from 1 September 2021
Clare Swetenham
Clare is the Director of the Court Children’s Services in Victoria and Tasmania in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. Clare has been with the Courts for 7 years. Prior to this Clare held Management positions in the Family Law services provided by Centacare Adelaide. Clare also previously worked as the acting Program Director for the Master of Conflict Resolution at the University of South Australia. In that role, Clare taught a variety of subjects that linked to both NMAS accreditation and FDR accreditation. Clare has worked for the past 25 years in the field of family law across Government, non-Government and the University sectors.