District Court Judicial Registrar's General List at Sydney
Online Court is now available for use in the District Court Judicial Registrar’s General List at Sydney. The service includes requests to seek case management orders (including, but not limited to, timetables for the preparation of the matter for trial, referral to mediation, adjournment, referral to the List Judge, and scheduling a listing date).
Using Online Court in the Judicial Registrar’s General List
Practice Note DC (Civil) 1B applies. Please read in conjunction with the Judicial Registrar’s Guide.
The Online Court is available to all legal practitioners who have an Online Registry account. All legal practitioners appearing in matters in the Judicial Registrar’s General List at Sydney must be registered users of the online registry.
All legally represented matters in the Judicial Registrar’s General List at Sydney are automatically entered into the Online Court and will be managed in the Online Court unless the Court otherwise orders.
Managing matters in Online Court
Any matter listed in the Judicial Registrar’s General List at Sydney, will automatically be able to be used by legal practitioners to make a request.
Either party can make a consent request online provided they attach signed consent orders.
Any party can also make a request online; the opposing parties can consent or counter this request.
The Judicial Registrar will review requests made through Online Court and make orders. The recording of an order in Online Court can result in:
- vacating the next listing, and scheduling a new listing date; and
- recording identical orders sought by you, or the Judicial Registrar’s preferred orders; as is the case in the physical courtroom, the orders recorded are at the Judicial Registrar’s discretion.
Notifications
All parties will be notified by email when:
- a message is posted to the Online Court;
- a request is submitted via the Online Court;
- a response to an Online Court request is made (consent or counter a request); and
- the Judicial Registrar has responded to a request and made an order.
Messaging
At any time during Online Court:
- legal practitioners may send a message to the Judicial Registrar;
- the Judicial Registrar may send messages to the parties; and
- messages will be visible to all parties in the Online Court record.
Messages posted in the Online Court must be:
- for communications with the Court not for interparty communications;
- relevant to the topic under discussion;
- concise; and
- posted in a timely manner.
The Judicial Registrar may, from time to time, give instructions as to:
- the acceptable length of messages in the Online Court; and
- the time and date by which messages must be received.
Online Court records
All actions including requests, consents, counter requests, reasons, messages, documents, commentary and orders made in Online Court will be recorded in the Online Court record and will be visible to all parties. You can request a free transcript of the Online Court record by emailing onlineregistry-support@justice.nsw.gov.au.
If the request is made by someone who is not directly involved in the case, the transcript will only be distributed once the Judicial Registrar has approved its release.
Feedback and technical support
We encourage your open and honest feedback on any aspect of the system or process. Similarly, if you experience difficulties using the system, send an email detailing the issues encountered (including screen images where possible) so we can assist you. All feedback, enquiries, or technical support should be emailed to:
onlineregistry-support@justice.nsw.gov.au
Cut-off times
Registered users must submit requests to the Judicial Registrar by no later than 2:00pm three days prior to the Online Court sitting. Counter requests and consent to pending orders must be submitted by no later than 6:00pm three days prior to the Online Court sitting.
If requests and counter requests are not received within the times specified all parties are required to attend court in person on the scheduled court date. Failing to submit requests or consent orders in the Online Court in accordance with the cut-off times will be treated as a non-appearance in the proceedings. Any further non-appearance may result in the proceedings being dismissed.
Any party may, by 2pm three days prior to the Online Court sitting, submit a request to the Judicial Registrar for the matter to be dealt with in open court on the basis that the matter is not suitable to be dealt with using the Online Court. The decision to list a matter in the physical Court is entirely at the discretion of the Judicial Registrar. In general, contested directions are not a sufficient basis to have a matter transferred to a physical Court listing.
For more information, visit our FAQs.
Refer to the User Guide for the Online Court.