Alliance Legal Services is happy to hear that the Government has appointed new judges to both the Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court – let’s hope these judicial appointments assists families moving through the system a bit faster. Justice Joshua Wilson has been appointed to the Melbourne Registry of the Family Court, and Justice Robert Harper to Sydney. And there are four new judges of the Federal Circuit Court: Judge Doug Humphries (Parramatta), Judges Monica Neville and Anthony Morley (Sydney) and Judge Anna Boymal (Melbourne).
The length of time it takes to fulfil judicial vacancies has been widely criticised, and there has also been recent controversy over the choice of some of the appointments. For instance Justice Wilson was elevated to the Family Court from the Federal Circuit Court and has come in for some criticism by peers over his lack of specialist family law experience. According to the Financial Review: “His 11 page CV contains only one reference to family law – a case that concerned security for costs against a corporation”.
But on the other hand new Family Court Judge Robert Harper has “extensive” family law experience. Similarly, the new FCC judges Neville, Boymal and Morley are family law specialists.
Some of the tensions lately in relation to judicial appointments and questions of legal merit have led the Law Council to argue that there’s a judicial crisis in the Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court which needs to urgently be resolved. The Law Council notes that such a crisis is not the fault of the judiciary, “the majority of who work tirelessly in an under-resourced system.”
Do you need assistance with a family law matter? Please contact Canberra family lawyer Cristina Huesch or one of our other experienced solicitors here at Alliance Legal Services on (02) 6223 2400.
Please note our blogs are not legal advice. For information on how to obtain the correct legal advice, please contact Alliance Legal Services.
