The ACT Government will spend $670,000 on acting judges, prosecutors, legal aid and administrative staff in a bid to end the Supreme Court backlog once and for all.
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And the one-off cash injection will dovetail with an overhaul of the superior court's listing described as ''some of the most significant changes to court practice in decades''.
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Attorney-General Simon Corbell told The Canberra Times the funding, already dubbed ''the blitz'' by the legal community, could deal with 80 per cent of the backlog.
''Blitz is indeed the right word - this is a significant attack on the backlog which will have substantive outcomes and improve the timeliness in the courts significantly,'' he said.
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The Supreme Court will today also announce ''sweeping reforms'' to streamline the court listing process.
Foremost is a ''docket system'', which will assign each case to a single judge, giving the bench greater autonomy on managing their own lists and the ability to tackle problems early and avoid unnecessary delays.
Under the blitz, the Government will provide a treasurer's advance to deal with 100 criminal cases and 150 civil matters listed for the second half of next year and 2013.
It is anticipated two acting judges, three more prosecutors, additional resources for the Legal Aid Commission and a boosted administrative section will help the court get the cases off the books.
Mr Corbell said it was probable many civil cases brought forward would go to settlement and criminal matters could resolve with pleas of guilty with a looming trial.
The blitz will be through two six-week periods in 2012, with acting judges expected to be announced early in the new year.
The moves are the result of months of consultation between the court, the DPP, Legal Aid, the Bar Association, the Law Society and the Government.
It was sparked by a recent review conducted by Justice Hilary Penfold and the director-general of the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, Kathy Leigh.
For years the territory's Supreme Court has struggled with a backlog causing accused criminals to wait years for their day in court, sometimes in custody.
The last Justice and Community Safety Directorate annual report showed one-in-eight criminal cases before the court was more than two years old; for civil matters the figure was one-in-four.
The legal community has also complained about waiting years for a judge to hand down a reserved decision.
In addition to the docket system the court will today flag a push for parties to exchange more information in initial hearings and at sentencing.
But forcing defence lawyers to show their hands early through contentious pre-trial disclosure rules is not on the cards for the moment.
The idea attracted some ire among defence advocates after it was first mooted in the review published earlier this year.
Law Society president Noor Blumer, Bar Association president Philip Walker and Director of Public Prosecutions Jon White yesterday welcomed the blitz and court listing reforms.
''The court is currently listing cases 18 months in advance of hearing dates and something, simply, has to be done,'' Mr Walker said.
And Ms Blumer said she hoped the blitz would give judges more free time to tackle their own workload of reserved judgments.