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Despite the recent merger of the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court of Australia (FCFCOA) promising to deliver justice more efficiently and cost effectively, only four per cent of Australian family lawyers recently surveyed by Smokeball believe costs have decreased under the new pathway, with 55 per cent believing they have increased and 41 per cent saying they have not changed.
However, a survey of more than 200 delegates at Smokeball’s 2022 State of Family Law Webinar showed that a larger majority (63 per cent) of lawyers feel the system works well with more matters being resolved at the time of mediation and indicating the top benefits as a great role for registrars (51 per cent), clearer case pathways (39 per cent) and a fast resolution of matters (5 per cent).
Jane Oxley, CRO at Smokeball comments: “This merger is the most significant change to the family court since 1975, so everyone involved in the family law system has a lot of change and adaptation ahead to not only understand the new FCFCOA Act and its rules but how to prepare their matters and their clients for this new world”.
To help its clients and any family law practitioner navigate this new era Smokeball, together with FamilyProperty, will hold several in-person conferences in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne with leading family law experts to explain the new state of family law and share practical insights.
The State of Family Law conferences are CPD accredited and will be held in Brisbane (Tuesday 7 June), Sydney (Tuesday 14 June) and Melbourne (Thursday 16 June).
Amanda Little comments: “The scale of the FCFCOA merger and the sweeping changes of how the Court functions will have long term benefits for separating families and society. The rapid and swift movement towards a resolution focussed system, means that lawyers are moving into the role of a dispute resolution facilitator and ongoing education and support to the legal profession is essential to ensuring its success. We as practitioners, will benefit in our practice and the families we support will reap the rewards with a guide through the process.”
Jane adds: “The response to our initial national online seminar was very strong and showed a need for more practical assistance for practitioners, so we decided to run these events across the country. We hope our events will help family law practitioners understand both the implications of the changes for their business, and to walk away with smart and practical insights to make the transition as easy as possible.”
To register for the 2022 State of Family Law Webinar or for more information on the 2022 State of Family Law Program, please visit us here.
Designed for and by lawyers, Smokeball is the first and only cloud-based legal practice management software that automatically records time and activity, giving the small law sector powerful insights to understand the profitability of their work and optimise their practice. In addition, the company offers industry-leading document and email management, Law Society approved billing and trust accounting, shared tasks and workflows, secure messaging and file sharing, and automated practice-area-specific legal forms.
Built by experts in Family Law, and acquired by Smokeball in 2021, FamilyProperty automates and streamlines the time intensive, manual and error prone aspects of family law matters to equip family law professionals and families with the tools needed to efficiently run family law matters and mediations from start to finish.
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