Litigants in Person and Pro Bono Project

Litigants in person are individuals who conduct legal proceedings on their own behalf. There are challenges for litigants in person in running or defending legal proceedings. They may arise due to limited legal knowledge, lack of understanding of court procedures, unfamiliarity with the types of disputes that the Court can resolve and reduced objectivity in relation to the dispute that is before the Court. The Court has a responsibility to explain its procedures to litigants in person. However, the Court is unable to give legal advice or assistance. The Court also faces challenges in ensuring that its limited resources are available to meritorious cases and must maintain its independence. It must be able to ensure that all proceedings are conducted in an orderly and efficient way. Fulfilling these responsibilities in cases involving litigants in person poses challenges for the Court.

In August 2024, the Court established the Litigants in Person and Pro Bono Project which introduces a whole-of-court approach to the ongoing management of matters involving litigants in person, including both administrative and judicial management. The Project also oversees the implementation of the Court’s litigants in person strategic plan.

The Court’s litigants in person strategic plan sets out objectives to ensure access to the Court, better manage matters involving litigants in person, more efficiently utilise the Court’s resources, and minimise disadvantage faced by litigants in person without conferring them with any unfair advantage compared to represented litigants whilst maintaining the Court's independence. It recognises the importance of setting expectations as to what the Court can and cannot do and what all parties must do if they seek relief in the Court.

Litigants in Person and Pro Bono Objectives

The Court’s litigants in person strategic plan sets out the following objectives:

1. Introduce a coordinated whole-of-court approach to the ongoing management of matters involving litigants in person and to oversee implementation of the strategic plan.
2. Adopt an early intervention approach to all matters involving litigants in person with respect to the provision of information to litigants in person and the expeditious handling of preliminary issues.
3. Offer improved case management tools and mechanisms to assist judges and registrars in more effectively managing matters involving litigants in person.
4. Implement more robust measures, communicated to litigants in person at an early stage of proceedings and otherwise when appropriate, to prevent abuse of the Court’s processes and mitigate any problematic or inappropriate behaviour by litigants in person.
5. Enhance the information available for litigants in person to enable greater accessibility to the Court and its processes, minimise any disadvantage faced by litigants in person, and assist litigants in person in understanding the role of the Court and its staff.
6. Provide better support and resources to judges, registrars and other court staff who interact with litigants in person including by way of guidelines, training and education.
7. Collect more comprehensive data on litigants in person to enable a more complete and nuanced understanding of the nature of litigant in person matters.
8. Strengthen the operation of the Court’s pro bono referral program to facilitate a more streamlined and systematised approach to pro bono assistance for litigant in person.

Feedback and Consultations

Any litigants in person or community groups with feedback regarding the work of the Court’s Litigant in Person and Pro Bono Project are welcome to provide that feedback to: LIPfeedback@fedcourt.gov.au. Please note that enquiries regarding Court procedure or specific proceedings before the Court should not be sent to this email account. If you have an enquiry of this nature, please see the Court’s Contact Us page for information on where to direct your enquiry.

The Court is in the process of preparing a Litigant in Person Practice Note for all matters before the Court in which one or more parties are litigants in person. Consultations on the Court’s Litigant in Person Practice Note will open shortly and notification will be provided on this page.