A very significant proportion of the matters before the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia involve allegations of family violence and other risk factors including child abuse, drug and alcohol misuse and mental health which compromises the safety of a child. The Courts provide a number of specialist lists and case management approaches designed to identify and respond to allegations of risk. Examples of these innovations include the Magellan list, which carefully case manages complex matters including those involving child sexual abuse or possession of child sexual exploitation material, the Evatt list, which offers a careful and thoughtful approach to cases involving multiple complex risk factors and Priority Property Pools cases, which allow for the identification and close case management of financial cases at risk of non-compliance or disproportionate costs caused by a party’s attempts to delay.

The opportunities and advantages of these lists are explained by two of our experienced Registrars in this discussion, led by Senior Judicial Registrar and Executive Director National Registrar Operations and Practice Anne-Marie Rice.