Civil Procedure Amendment Act 2012 receives royal assent and commences 1 May 2013

I attended the Commercial Bar Association annual cocktail party in the Supreme Court of Victoria library on 30 October 2012, and during his speech the Attorney-General Robert Clark noted that the Civil Procedure Amendment Act 2012 received Royal Assent that morning.

I previously wrote about the structure of the Civil Procedure Amendment Bill 2012 in my article Civil Procedure Amendment Bill 2012 - costs disclosure and expert evidence. The structure of the Act has not appeared to have changed since it was introduced as a Bill.

By way of summary, the Act:

• empowers the Court to make orders about costs disclosure;
• empowers the Court to make orders about the costs of proceedings;
• empowers the Court to make orders managing expert witnesses; and
• removes duplicative certification requirements for frequent litigants. 

The Civil Procedure Amendment Act 2012 commences as an amendment to the Civil Procedure Act 2010 on 1 May 2013.

The full authorised text from the Victorian Parliament is here.

On another note, at the cocktail party the Commercial Bar Association launched its new website: http://www.commbar.com.au