Supreme Court: Criminal Case Conferencing

The Supreme Court of Western Australia has incorporated a program of case conferencing or mediation for criminal matters under Section 44 of the Criminal Practice Act, following a six-month pilot that began in November 2006.

Case Conferencing aims with the assistance of a facilitator, a role currently shared by Mr Ron Cannon and Mr Kevin Hammond, to reach agreement between the parties on any aspects of the criminal trial process, and is available to parties before or after the lodgement of the indictment.

Key features of Case Conferencing/Mediation include:

• Voluntary: consent of all parties essential, including informed understanding of the accused on conferencing protocol.
• Confidential: information presented or admissions made during case conferences are protected and inadmissible, and do not form part of the trial process.
• Streamlined: Conferences will typically commence at 9 am and take no more than one hour.

Legal Aid Western Australia has amended its cost scale for funding in Supreme Court trials by incorporating an item for case/mediation conferences, and to cover all preparation for trials, effective from 1 September 2007.

A set fee of two hours at $120.00 per hour (including preparation and attendance) for mediation is available to assigned legal practitioners and may be claimed only where mediation has been employed during the conduct of the case.

Practitioners are entitled to claim for mediation as well as the preparation fee if the client enters a plea of guilty. In order to streamline payment of accounts, practitioners will be required to specify if mediation is applicable. The pro forma account will be amended to allow practitioners to easily indicate if this work has been completed.

The set fee for mediation has also been itemised under Schedule 1 of the Legal Aid Cost Rules 1990.