Handbook

Civil litigation is more frequently giving rise to commercial cases that are regarded as large or complex. These disputes are time-consuming, expensive for parties to run and consume a large amount of judicial resources.

The government, judiciary and legal practitioners are concerned with efficiently managing these cases. For example, see the comments of the Federal Attorney-General, The Hon Robert McClelland MP, Speech to Australian Financial Review Legal Conference 2008, 17 June 2008, "how best do we grapple with large commercial disputes" and Justice Ronald Sackville's decision in the Seven Network Limited v News Limited [2007] FCA 1062 at [3]: "Mega-litigation is an increasing phenomenon and the courts, if not Parliaments, must devise ways to deal with it more effectively".

This course examines what factors cause civil litigation to be complex and what tools are available to manage complex civil litigation, including possible reforms.

Main Topics

• Complexity in commercial litigation
• Multi-party proceedings including class actions in the commercial context such as shareholder and cartel class actions
• Litigation funding
• Case management requirements and techniques
• Discovery in the Electronic Age
• Expert evidence
• Alternative dispute resolution in commercial litigation