Check attendance at a New South Wales mediation or settlement conference
MaintainedLast reviewed
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- From the hearing estimate and the orders, say whether Practice Note 16 points to a mediation or a settlement conference, and who must attend. The tool does not write a position paper.
- What the lawyer must review
- The lawyer confirms the instructions on mediation before a hearing date is taken.
- Treat a case of three days or more as generally a mediation, and a shorter case as generally a settlement conference.
- Require the parties and their lawyers to attend the settlement conference.
- For an insured party, an officer with authority to resolve the case must attend.
Rules that apply
The document starts from the task name. Change it if this piece of work is different.
The work product
Forum. District Court General List under Practice Note 16, or the Supreme Court General Civil List under Practice Note SC CL 1
Produce. An attendance note for the mediation or the settlement conference.
Have ready. The hearing estimate; The orders; Who holds authority for an insured party.
Example of the limit. Illustrative example: The estimate is two days. The note marks a settlement conference, not a mediation, and names the insurer's officer. The lawyer confirms that officer will attend.
Stop and hand it back when
- The estimate is unknown.
- No officer with authority is identified for an insured party.
Sources for this task were checked on 2026-10-23.
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | From the hearing estimate and the orders, say whether Practice Note 16 points to a mediation or a settlement conference, and who must attend. The tool does not write a position paper. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- The Court's power to order mediation does not depend on the parties' consent.
- Where the estimate is three days or more, the Court will generally direct a mediation unless the parties have arranged one.
- Where the estimate is less than three days, the Court will generally order a settlement conference. The parties and their lawyers must attend.
- An officer of an insured party with authority to resolve the case must attend that conference. A mediation may still be ordered in a shorter case.
- Practice Note SC CL 1 allows directions on whether alternative dispute resolution should be ordered. It does not apply to the professional negligence list or the institutional abuse list.
Forms and precedents for this task
| Form or precedent | Kind | AI use | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Index for a personal injury settlement conference brief | Checklist | AI use Yellow | An index of the solicitor's brief for a settlement conference or mediation in a personal injury claim, with the attendance rules taken from the practice notes that were opened. |
Signed-in accounts can read the full text of each one. All precedents.
Sources
- District Court of NSW, Civil Practice Note 16, paragraphs 50 to 52 · 2026-10-23
- Supreme Court of NSW, Practice Note SC CL 1, paragraph 27 · 2026-10-23
- Supreme Court of NSW, Practice Note SC GEN 23 · 2026-10-23
Supreme Court Practice Note SC GEN 23, commenced on 3 February 2025, prohibits generative AI from generating evidentiary content, and requires prior leave before it is used to draft an expert report.
SC GEN 23 allows a chronology, an index or a witness list. No District Court generative AI practice note was opened. Practice Note 16 governs the General List.