Although there is quite a bit happening behind closed doors that could irrevocably alter the federal family law system, those that are involved with the Family Court of Australia currently have a lot to be excited for as it moves into a post-pandemic norm – at least, that’s according to Family Court and Federal Circuit Court registrar Brett McGrath. 

When the courts were required to remodel how they administer justice earlier this year, Mr McGrath said the Family Court found it to be “relatively seamless” and that litigants and parties were still being afforded procedural fairness and the relatively normal court experience that they had come to be used to in the time prior to the pandemic. 

Although the unavoidable changes meant a backlog of cases, Mr McGrath clarified at the NSW Law Society’s Rural issues Day 2020 that the courts are currently making their way through them and that the current workload has been made that much easier to handle by procedures the court implemented in the early pandemic months. 

“There is a notion for returning to business-as-usual and while we are all eager to see a return to some sense of normalcy, what you will see is that [after] having adapted to the utilisation of online platforms, our litigants and practitioners have a greater access to justice,” Mr McGrath explained of the court’s intention to remain somewhat virtual.

Mr McGrath added that those in rural and regional NSW will no longer be blocked from the changes happening at a federal level due to the “opportunities that arose from the digital transformations”. This means that practitioners can tap into expertise in all parts of Australia and access faster dispute resolution with access to federal registrars. 

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One of the more exciting developments during 2020 was the introduction of a national COVID-19 list created back in April to manage the surge of filings. The list had quickly designed a way to address urgent matters arising as a consequence of the pandemic, including those associated with border closures and economic fallout. Mr McGrath said the court was “proactive in responding to that” by developing the list. 

“We are moving into a truly national system for the Family Court of Australia and in the Federal Circuit Court,” Mr McGrath said, adding that for practitioners there “has never been a more exciting time to be in the family law system”.