Litigants in Person Practice Note (GPN-LIP)

General Practice Note

1. Introduction

1.1 This practice note is for litigants in person in the Federal Court of Australia.

1.2 You are a litigant in person if you have a legal case in the Court and you do not have a lawyer to represent you.

1.3 A litigant in person takes on a serious task that comes with responsibilities.

1.4 This practice note will tell you:

(a) some things you must do and what will happen if you do not do them;

(b) some things you must not do and what will happen if you do them;

(c) what the Court and the people who work there do, and what they cannot do; and

(d) what lawyers do, and what they cannot do, when they represent people in the Court.

1.5 This practice note tells you a lot that you need to know about how to run or defend a case. It does not tell you all that you need to know. Some things you need to know will depend on the kind of case you have. You might need to look at other practice notes of the Court. You might need to find rules in other places.

1.6 The Court has a Central Practice Note (CPN-1) that is for all cases. It will help you with how the Court works. The Court also has practice notes that are for different kinds of cases. For example, the Migration Practice Note (MIG-1) is for migration cases. You can find a list of the Court’s practice notes in Attachment C. You can also find the practice notes on the Court’s website.

1.7 The Court works under an Act of the Australian Parliament called the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) (we will call that “the Act”). The Court also has rules made by the Judges of the Court, called the Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) (we will call those “the Rules”). The Central Practice Note is partly based on the Act and the Rules.

1.8 The Court aims to resolve cases quickly and fairly. You should read sections 37M and 37N of the Act before you go on. You will find a summary of those sections in Attachment B. Section 37M sets out the Court’s goal of resolving disputes quickly and fairly. Section 37N says that all litigants must help achieve that goal.

1.9 All courts are different in how they work. You might have had a case in another court or a tribunal. You need to know that the Court might work differently from that other court or tribunal.

2. Getting legal help

2.1 You should speak to a lawyer before you decide to start a case on your own, or to defend a case brought against you, without a lawyer to help you.

2.2 Fighting a case and losing it can be very expensive. The person who loses usually must pay the costs of the winner. These costs can be many thousands of dollars.

2.3 You must think carefully about what you need to win your case, before you decide to go on without a lawyer. To win your case, you need to:

(a) bring to the Court the evidence that will prove that the facts are as you say they are;

(b) find the law that applies to the case; and

(c) argue to the Court that the law means that the Court must decide the case your way.

2.4 Lawyers are trained to fight cases. They know how to bring evidence to the Court. They know how to find the right law for the case. They know how to argue the case. Lawyers also know they have to be careful when they advise their clients.

2.5 There are some ways you can get legal advice if you cannot pay for a lawyer:

(a) some lawyers offer a first session free of charge;

(b) some lawyers will take your case on a no-win-no-fee basis (they only charge fees if you win); or

(c) community legal centres can give legal advice for free, or for a low charge.

2.6 You can find on the Court’s website a list of people and organisations that can help you for free or at a low cost. These people and organisations are not part of the Court.

2.7 The Court can refer a party for legal help. Rule 4.12 of the Rules gives the Court this power. The Court does not have to refer you for legal help. The Court will decide whether to refer a party in each case.

2.8 Do not use Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs (like Chat GPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot or Google Gemini) to get legal help about whether you have a case you can win. Those programs are not reliable for legal help about whether to start or defend a case. They are not trained like lawyers. They might give you answers that are based on American law. American law is different from Australian law. AI programs can give false answers to legal questions.

2.9 Do not use social media or pseudolaw sites for legal help of any kind. Those sites might say that you can get out of legal trouble or win your case. They might look like they give legal help when they do not. They give many false answers that the Court will not accept because they are not based on real law. You can be in serious trouble if you make legal arguments to the Court that are not based on real law.

2.10 If you start or defend a case based on real law and evidence, you can use AI programs to help explain your case to the Court. If you use AI programs to help explain your case, you will have to tell the Court that is what you have done if the Court asks you about it. You must check everything you get from AI programs. You must check that all the facts are correct and complete. You must also check that the law is correct. Asking a lawyer is usually the best way to check. If you cannot get help from a lawyer, you can use a legal research database to check the law. You will find a list of free legal research databases in Attachment D . You can be in serious trouble if you give the Court false information about the facts or the law.

2.11 The Court will soon publish more about what you can and cannot do with AI programs in your case.

3. Getting other help

3.1 You should tell the Court as soon as you can if you do not have good English and you need an interpreter. Make sure you tell the Court what language you speak.

3.2 You should phone 131 450 for a telephone interpreter if you need to speak to the registry through an interpreter.

3.3 You need to find an interpreter yourself if you can pay for the interpreter. NAATI can help you to find an interpreter through its online directory at www.naati.com.au or you can phone NAATI on 1300 557 470.

3.4 The Court can help you if you need an interpreter, but you cannot pay for one. You need to contact the registry at least one week before your first hearing in the Court. Make sure you tell the Court what language you speak.

3.5 Interpreters are not lawyers. They cannot give you legal advice.

3.6 The Court has a practice note called the Working with Interpreters Practice Note (GPN-INTERP). You can find more information about interpreters on the Court’s website.

3.7 Some court buildings have free computer and printing services that you can use for legal research or preparing documents. You might also be able to use a library or a legal research database. You can ask the registry about these services in your location.

3.8 Please contact the Court’s registry at least one week before your first Court hearing if you need help with access to the Court or with speaking about your case in Court for any reason. The Court will try to help you. Reasonable adjustments will be made, but there are limits on what can be done because of the nature of a Court case. The Court must make sure the process is fair to all parties and must consider the costs for other parties when deciding whether adjustments can be made to how the case is conducted. It cannot help everyone who finds it hard to come to Court. Whether the Court can help you depends on why you find it hard.

3.9 You should contact the Court’s registry as soon as possible if you need an adjournment of a Court hearing for any reason. You must have a good reason for an adjournment. You may be asked to provide evidence to the Court about why you need an adjournment. You should check with the Court’s registry to see what you need to do.

4. What you must do if you bring a case to court

4.1 You must do all the things in this section if you are the one who brings the case to the Court (that is, if you are called the applicant, the plaintiff or the appellant).

4.2 You must only bring a claim or appeal if you can support it with facts and law. You must have evidence to prove the facts of your claim and law that supports your claim or appeal. If you bring a claim or appeal that is not supported with facts and law, your case will not be allowed to go on.

4.3 You must only use the Court to solve legal disputes. The Court is not the place to get someone back or to get out of what you owe to someone. The Court can only make legal decisions based on evidence that is given to the Court. To come to the Court without a proper claim or appeal is an abuse of process of the Court.

4.4 You must be able to explain your claim or appeal to the Court. You must be able to explain clearly. You must not repeat yourself.

4.5 You must tell the Court what orders you want the Court to make. You can only ask the Court for orders that it can make.

4.6 You must only include facts and law that will help to end the dispute. Do not include things that are not part of the dispute. Too much information will not help your case.

4.7 You must act respectfully and honestly when you deal with Judges, Registrars, Court staff and lawyers for other parties:

(a) in all your written documents, emails and phone calls; and

(b) when you meet with people in the Court or elsewhere.

4.8 You must not shout, swear, threaten or be rude.

4.9 You must only contact the Court when you have to or when your contact relates directly to your case.

4.10 All your emails or letters to the Court after you have started your case must be copied to the lawyers for the other parties. You must not send multiple similar emails to the Court or try to argue your case in emails. The time and place for presenting your case is during Court hearings or in documents that you have been told by the Court to provide.

4.11 You must do what the Court orders you to do. You must file any document by the time the Court has fixed in its orders for filing that document. If you do not obey the Court’s orders, the Court might not allow you to go on with your case.

4.12 You must attend all Court hearings at the right place and the right time. It is up to you to make sure you know these things. If you do not attend a hearing at the right place and time, you might not be allowed to go on with your case.

4.13 You must work with the other parties to end the dispute. You might not like the other parties and you might not trust them. You should still try your best to resolve the dispute. You should think about the risks of going on with your claim when you could end the dispute by agreeing with the other parties.

4.14 You must pay any Court fees, unless you are excused from paying. The Court has fees for filing documents and fees for final hearings. You can find more information about Court fees on the Court’s website.

5. What you must do if you are defending the claim or appeal

5. 1 You must do all the things in this section if you are defending a claim someone else has brought against you (that is, if you are called the respondent or the defendant).

5.2 You must only defend the claim if you can support your defence with facts and law. If the other party does not have evidence of their claim or their evidence is weak, you may be able to argue that they must lose because they have not proved their case.

5.3 If you want to argue that the facts are different from what the other party says they are, you must have evidence to support this. You must be able to show that the law says that the other side must lose their claim or appeal.

5.4 You must be able explain your defence to the Court. You must explain clearly. You must not repeat yourself.

5.5 You must only include facts and law that will help to end the dispute. Do not include things that are not part of the dispute. Too much information will not help your case.

5.6 You must act respectfully and honestly when you deal with Judges, Registrars, Court staff and lawyers for other parties:

(a) in all your written documents, emails and phone calls; and

(b) when you meet with people in the Court or elsewhere.

5.7 You must not shout, swear, threaten or be rude.

5.8 You must only contact the Court when you have to and when your contact relates directly to your case.

5.9 All your emails or letters to the Court must be copied to the lawyers for the other parties. You must not send multiple similar emails to the Court or try to argue your defence in emails. The time and place for presenting your defence is during Court hearings or in documents that you have been told by the Court to provide.

5.10 You must do what the Court orders you to do. You must file any document by the time the Court has fixed in its orders for filing that document. If you do not obey the Court’s orders, the Court might not allow you to go on with your defence.

5.11 You must attend all Court hearings at the right place and the right time. It is up to you to make sure you know these things. If you do not attend a hearing at the right place and time, the Court may make orders against you.

5.12 You must work with the other parties to end the dispute. You might not like the other parties and you might not trust them. You should still try your best to resolve the dispute. Think about the risks of going on defending the claim when you could end the dispute by agreeing with the other parties.

5.13 You must pay any Court fees, unless you are excused from paying. The person bringing the claim or appeal will pay most of the Court fees. There might still be some fees that you have to pay. You might want to ask for a subpoena to bring someone to the final hearing as a witness, or to make someone bring documents to the Court. You might want to bring an interlocutory application against the other side. For things like those, you will usually have to pay a fee. You can find more information about Court fees on the Court’s website.

6. What the Court does

A. The Court

6.1 The Court’s main work is to decide cases. It needs to decide three important things in each case:

(a) what are the facts (that is, what happened)?

(b) what is the law (that is, what rule or rules apply to a case of this kind)?

(c) how does the law say that the Court should decide the case?

6.2 The Court might not be able to decide all the legal issues that you have. It can only decide on certain legal issues. Those are within what we call the Court’s jurisdiction. You can find information about the Court’s jurisdiction on the Court’s website.

6.3 The Court is made up of Judges, Registrars and Court staff. Judges and Registrars are independent and impartial. This means that they decide only on the facts and the law. They are not under any pressure or influence from the government or others.

6.4 Court staff are also independent and impartial. They are in contact with, and give information to, people who use the Court.

6.5 Cases can take a long time to resolve. Delays are often beyond the control of Judges, Registrars and Court staff.

B. The Judge

6.6 The main work of the Judge is to decide your case by considering the facts and the law.

6.7 The Judge will also control the way your case is prepared, usually by holding case management hearings. The Judge will make orders at those hearings about the steps to be taken by all parties in your case. Those orders will include times for filing documents in the Court.

6.8 The Court manages cases by what we call a docket system. Each case is allocated to one judge to manage, up to and including the final hearing. You cannot choose the Judge who will manage or decide your case. You can find information about the docket system, and the way cases are allocated, in the Central Practice Note.

6.9 A Judge might decide that they cannot hear your case because of bias. This is rare. It might happen if the Judge finds that they have a close relationship with one of the parties, or one of the witnesses, in your case.

6.10 A Judge is not biased just because they say they agree with what a party argues. If the Judge decides they cannot hear your case, the Court will arrange for another Judge to take over the case.

6.11 A Judge might raise legal issues and ask the parties what they say about those issues. A Judge might give early views about some issues, or about problems with a party’s evidence or arguments. This does not mean that the Judge has decided the case. It also does not mean the Judge is biased. It is part of the role of the Judge to find out what the case is about and to ask questions to work out the law that might apply. The Judge does this to understand the legal issues to be decided in the case.

C. The Registrar

6.12 The law and the Rules give Registrars some powers to help manage cases. Registrars help Judges by looking after some kinds of cases or some parts of cases. Registrars can conduct hearings or conferences. They can make orders. They can decide some parts of a case. Their work is more limited than the work of a Judge.

6.13 A Registrar can give you general information about how the Court works, during a hearing or conference.

D. Court staff

6.14 There are three kinds of Court staff:

(a) chambers staff, who assist Judges;

(b) Registrar support staff who assist Registrars; and

(c) registry staff who help with the work of the registry.

6.15 Chambers staff are called associates or executive assistants. They help their Judges in the Judges’ offices, which are called chambers. They organise and attend hearings. They can provide a copy of the orders made by their Judge in your case.

6.16 Chambers staff can give information about the arrangements for hearings and about documents to be filed with the Court.

6.17 Registrar support staff help Registrars. They organise hearings. They arrange conferences or mediations.

6.18 Registrar support staff can give information about hearings and conferences.

6.19 Registry staff help with the work of the registry. Registry staff can tell you in a general way about the way the Court works and about hearings and interpreters. They can help you to find the forms on the Court’s website. They can tell you whether there is a Court fee for something, and how much a Court fee might be.

6.20 If you have questions about your case, you should ask registry staff. You should only contact chambers staff or Registrar support staff when you have been asked to do so.

7. What the Court cannot do

7.1 This section tells you what the Court cannot do. This means that the Judges, the Registrars, and the Court staff cannot do these things.

7.2 Judges, Registrars and Court staff cannot give you legal advice.

7.3 They cannot help you decide whether you should start a claim or an appeal in the Court.

7.4 They cannot tell you whether it is a good idea to go on with your claim, appeal or defence.

7.5 They cannot tell you how to draft legal documents or how to present your evidence.

7.6 They cannot tell you what useful things you might add to your claim, appeal or defence.

7.7 They cannot tell you what you, or any witness, should say in documents like affidavits or witness statements.

7.8 They cannot conduct the case for you.

7.9 They cannot tell you what to say in hearings, or how to present your case in the best way.

7.10 They cannot give you an advantage over any other party in your case.

7.11 Court staff cannot tell you what the Judge or Registrar will decide about your case.

7.12 Court staff cannot let you speak directly with the Judge, other than at a hearing.

7.13 Court staff cannot write to one party without the other parties knowing.

8. What lawyers do

8.1 Usually there will be lawyers representing the other parties. The lawyers will be there to help their client. They are not there to help you present your case.

8.2 Lawyers have rules about how they should deal with the Court, their own clients, and others in the case. One rule is that lawyers must help the Court. Part of helping the Court means that a lawyer may try to explain to you a part of the way the Court works in your case.

8.3 The Court also expects the parties to cooperate in preparing for the final hearing of the case. You should make a polite request of the lawyer for the other parties if there is something that you think should happen in the case. You may be able to agree. This saves time and cost.

8.4 The other party’s lawyer cannot give you legal advice.

8.5 The lawyer must pass on to their client anything you say to the lawyer. Think about whether you want the other side to know something before you tell it to their lawyer.

Next steps

9.1 Now you can decide whether to go on with your case without a lawyer. You might decide that it would be better to try and find a lawyer to advise or represent you.

9.2 You might not be ready to start a claim or appeal because you are unable to support your claim or appeal with facts and law or explain the orders you seek. You will need to do more work before starting your claim or appeal.

9.3 You might decide that it is not worth the trouble of going on with the case at all or defending it.

9.4 If you decide to go on with the case without a lawyer but are unsure about the next steps, please contact the registry. The Court can tell you more about what you have to do next.

D S Mortimer
Chief Justice
5 March 2026