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Case Management and Complex Civil Litigation

2nd edition

Author

ISBN

9781760024000

Format

Hardback

Publication date

30/09/2022

Page extent

448

AUD $195.00 gst included

SKU: 9781760024000 Categories: ,

Complex civil litigation has become more common in line with a growing number of causes of complexity in society such as increased regulation, sophisticated corporate transactions, advanced technology, globalisation and mass consumption. The solution to the expansive tendencies of complex civil litigation, with its deleterious impact on cost and timeliness, is case management.

The purpose of Case Management and Complex Civil Litigation is to examine the case management tools available to the modern-day judge for dealing with crucial aspects of complex civil litigation, such as pleadings, discovery, expert evidence, alternative dispute resolution, summary judgment and the separate question procedure. The text also addresses the role of the overriding or overarching purpose with its command that civil litigation is to be conducted in a manner which achieves justice while minimising cost and delay as this has major significance for complex cases. The text considers the use of costs and sanctions as a way in which to encourage and enforce compliance with civil procedure requirements in complex litigation. Concerns voiced about case management, such as ensuring procedural fairness, are examined.

Greatly expanded since its first edition, the author’s detailed consideration of the history and rationale for case management principles and rules as well as the most current and significant judicial pronouncements on them, make this book a valuable and highly practical resource for all those involved in commencing, or running, complex litigation, as well as a must-have reference for those adjudicating such disputes. It will also warrant careful consideration by parties contemplating lodging an appeal in relation to such adjudications.

Foreword by the Hon Justice Steven Rares
Preface
1. Case Management and Complex Civil Litigation
2. Balancing Justice, Cost and Delay – The Role of an Overriding or Overarching Purpose
3. Issue Identification – Pleadings and Alternatives
4. Discovery in the Digital Age
5. Expert Evidence
6. Alternative Dispute Resolution and Complex Disputes
7. Summary Judgment and the Separate Question Procedure
8. Case Management of Class Actions
9. Costs and Sanctions – Promoting Justice, Efficiency and Compliance
10. Concerns about Case Management
Index

Although this is an academic text it provides practical examples and also indirectly gives a good legal history of complex litigation, with an excellent focus on matters arising over the past 10-20 years. Read full review…

Tasman Ash Fleming, barrister and accredited mediator, Law Institute Journal (Vic) May 2023

Reviews of earlier editions:

Complex civil litigation gives rise to a wide range of issues that demand systematic analysis and evaluation. Michael Legg’s book undertakes this task extremely skillfully. His examination of the procedural, managerial and policy questions raised by complex civil litigation and case management is thorough, penetrating and insightful. It is enriched by comparisons with the approaches to similar questions taken in other common law jurisdictions. The criticisms he offers of existing laws and practices demand close attention by policy-makers. Some may be tempted to see complex civil litigation as a topic that is and should remain more or less the exclusive province of judges and legal practitioners, subject perhaps to occasional interventions by law reform agencies. This book amply demonstrates – if demonstration be necessary – the great advantages of bringing a scholarly perspective to the subject. Mr Legg has combined wide-ranging legal scholarship, with a clear-eyed, practical appreciation of the challenges posed by complex civil litigation. Michael Legg has made a major contribution to a relatively new legal discipline. Since it is an important field that is developing rapidly, it is to be hoped that this is but the first of numerous editions.

Ronald Sackville AO QC, Acting Judge of Appeal, Supreme Court of NSW, From the Foreword

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