Parties and practitioners can avoid a number of formal processes in the Court by contacting the chambers of the presiding judicial officer. Practitioners and parties are not permitted to contact a Judge or Senior Judicial Registrar directly. However, you may communicate with the Associate/s of a Judge or Senior Judicial Registrar in the following situations:
- if you and the other party reach agreement and draft consent orders at any point during your case, you may email the chambers of the Judge or Senior Judicial Registrar who your case is docketed to, to request that the proposed consent orders be made in chambers, without the need for another Court event;
- if you wish to seek an adjournment of an upcoming Court date, you may email this request to the chambers of the Judge, Senior Judicial Registrar or Judicial Registrar for their consideration; or
- if you require procedural information about your case, such as the date and/or time of your next Court event.
It is important to remember that Court staff (including associates) cannot provide legal advice. They can only provide you with procedural information or refer you to others who may be able to assist.
What to consider if you contact chambers
There are a number of things you need to keep in mind when contacting the chambers of a judicial officer:
- If you are one of the parties in the proceeding, and you are legally represented, you should not contact chambers directly. Your legal representative should contact chambers on your behalf.
- All communication written to a Judge or Senior Judicial Registrar must occur through the Associate to the Judge or Senior Judicial Registrar.
- Any necessary communication with the Court should be done with the consent of all the parties, and in writing.
- Before contacting chambers, the parties and/or their legal representatives should agree that it is appropriate to contact chambers and/or the issue cannot be resolved without a Judge or Senior Judicial Registrar. For this purpose, you should always contact the other parties in your case, and any legal practitioners involved, if any, before contacting the Court, explaining the reasons for the communication.
- In urgent circumstances or where the other party’s consent is not able to be achieved within a reasonable period of time, any email to the Associate should include all other parties, or their legal practitioner (if represented). Chambers staff will not respond to your email unless all parties are copied into the correspondence.
- Unless in exceptional circumstances, parties and practitioners should only communicate with chambers staff by email.
- All communication with chambers should be courteous and respectful. The Court will not respond to correspondence containing abusive or offensive language.
More information
For more information about what to expect at a Court hearing, please see the video:
For more information about Court processes and procedure, please see ‘Etiquette and tips’.
If you have a general enquiry, you can contact the Court via live chat, email or by calling. See Contact us.
