Checklist · Criminal Law
Defended hearing preparation and attendance checklist (NSW Local Court summary proceedings)
Checklist for a defended hearing in the NSW Local Court: brief served and complete, objections, defence witnesses and subpoenas, client attendance and the risk of a hearing in absence, interpreters, exhibits and technology, and the day-of-hearing running order.
- Kind
- Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Where it applies
- New South Wales
- AI use
- Yellow AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at
- 18 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 18 October 2026 against the 4 authorities it cites, for New South Wales.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use from the date a defended hearing is set in summary proceedings in the Local Court of NSW until the hearing day. It sits with the brief request letter, the disclosure tracker and the cross-examination plan. Adapt it for District Court appeals and for other states’ summary courts.
Used for these tasks
- Prepare the defended-hearing attendance checklist
- Draft a defended-hearing running sheet from the brief and instructions
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
AI may fill dates, witness lists and the exhibit index from the file and track tasks against the hearing date; the lawyer decides which witnesses to call, which objections to take and how the case is run.
AI may
- Fill the hearing date, court, prosecution witnesses and exhibits from the court record and the brief
- Build task deadlines (subpoenas, interpreter booking, audiovisual requests) back from the hearing date, for the lawyer to confirm
- Track which items are complete and list what remains a week before the hearing
AI must not
- Must not decide whether the accused gives evidence or which defence witnesses are called
- Must not draft defence witness statements or any statement a witness signs
- Must not contact witnesses, the prosecutor or the court
The lawyer checks
- The brief is complete or objections and any adjournment application are ready
- Defence witnesses are proofed by the lawyer and subpoenaed where attendance is not certain
- The client knows the date, time and place, has confirmed attendance, and understands the court may hear the matter in their absence if they had reasonable notice
- Interpreters, audiovisual links and the playback of recordings are arranged and tested
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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