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Supreme Court of New South Wales
Chief Justice's Executive Committee
Established in August 2011 to facilitate contemporaneous consideration and resolution of significant operational strategic issues.
Members
The Hon. Andrew Bell, Chief Justice (Chair)
The Hon. Justice Julie Ward, President of the Court of Appeal
The Hon. Justice David Hammerschlag, Chief Judge in Equity
The Hon. Justice Ian Harrison, Chief Judge at Common Law
Ms. Rebel Kenna, Executive Director and Principal Registrar
Supreme Court committees
Alternative Dispute Resolution Steering Committee
The Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Steering Committee, which was established in 1993, meets to discuss the Court’s ADR processes and consider ways in which they might be improved.
The Committee works to encourage the use of ADR (particularly mediation) in resolving disputes, and to ensure the Court has adequate resources to provide this service. The Committee makes recommendations to the Chief Justice in pursuit of these objectives, consulting with other courts and external organisations where appropriate.
Members
The Hon. Justice Julie Ward (Chair)
The Hon. Justice Natalie J Adams
The Hon. Justice Nicholas Chen
The Hon. Justice Anthony McGrath
Ms. Rebel Kenna A/Executive Director and Principal Registrar
Ms. Leonie Walton, Equity Registrar
Ms. Jennifer Hedge, Registrar, Common Law Case Management
Mr. John Fernon SC (Bar Association representative)
Ms. Caroline Hutchinson (Law Society representative)
Education Committee
The Supreme Court Education Committee, in partnership with the Judicial Commission of New South Wales, plans and organises continuing judicial education for judges of the Court.
Members
The Hon. Justice Anna Mitchelmore (Chair)
The Hon. Justice Anthony Payne
The Hon. Justice Peter Hamill
The Hon. Justice Mark Ierace
The Hon. Justice Elisabeth Peden
The Hon. Justice Scott Nixon
Ms. Rebel Kenna, A/Executive Director and Principal Registrar
Ms. Catherine Kenny, Director Research and Education, Judicial Commission of NSW (Convenor)
Information Technology Committee
The Information Technology Committee meets to assess the information technology needs of judicial officers and their staff, the technology facilities in courtrooms throughout the State used by the Court and to review the implementation of IT services.
Members
The Hon. Justice Peter Garling RFD (Chair)
The Hon. Justice Fabian Gleeson
The Hon. Justice Sarah McNaughton
Ms. Rebel Kenna, A/Executive Director and Principal Registrar
Nick Sanderson-Gough, Manager, Court Operations & Communications
Nathan Gray, Assistant Manager, Court Operations & Communications
Ms. Jane Mathison, Information & Digital Services
Mr. Jay Huntley, Information & Digital Services
Mr. Peter Xenos, Information & Digital Services
Mr. Paul Falconer, Information & Digital Services
Rules Committee
The Rules Committee meets as required to consider proposed changes to the Supreme Court Rules 1970 with a view to increasing the efficiency of the Court’s operations and reducing cost and delay in accordance with the requirements of access to justice. The Committee is a statutory body that has the power to alter, add to, or rescind any of the Rules contained in, or created under, the Supreme Court Act 1970. The Committee’s membership is defined in Section 123 of the Act and includes representatives from each Division of the Court and key organisations within the legal profession. Many of the rules that govern civil proceedings are now incorporated in the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules. In these circumstances, fewer meetings of the Rule Committee have been required.
Members
The Hon. Andrew Bell, Chief Justice (Chair)
The Hon. Justice Christine Adamson
The Hon. Justice Robertson Wright
The Hon. Justice Natalie J Adams
Ms. Rebel Kenna, A/Executive Director and Principal Registrar (Secretary)
Judicial Remuneration Committee
The Hon. Andrew Bell, Chief Justice
The Hon. Justice Stephen Rothman AM
The Hon. Acting Justice Monika Schmidt AM
Media Liaison Committee
The Hon. Justice Ian Harrison (Chair)
The Hon. Justice James Stevenson
Mr. Chris Winslow, Media Manager
Ms. Juliette Brodsky, Media Liaison Officer
User and liaison groups
Adoption Working Party
Judicial member
The Hon. Justice Anthony McGrath
Bails User Group
Members
The Hon. Justice Ian Harrison (Chair)
The Hon. Justice Dina Yehia
Mr. George Galanis, Registrar, Court of Criminal Appeal
Common Law Civil Users Group
The Group provides a forum for discussing and addressing matters of concern or interest in the administration of the Common Law Division’s civil trial workload.
Members
The Hon. Justice Nicholas Chen
The Hon. Justice Ian Harrison, Chief Judge at Common Law
The Hon. Justice Peter Garling RFD
Ms. Jennifer Hedge, Common Law Case Management Registrar
Court of Criminal Appeal Users Group
The joint Court of Criminal Appeal/Crime Users Group meets as required to promote effective communication between the Court and key users. The Group focuses on ensuring that Court of Criminal Appeal procedures work effectively and efficiently within the required timeframes.
Members
The Hon. Justice Ian Harrison (Chair)
The Hon. Acting Justice R A Hulme
Ms Rebel Kenna, Executive Director and Principal Registrar
Equity Division Consultation Group
This Group was established in 2001 to promote discourse between the legal profession and representatives of the Equity Division about matters of interest and importance to the operation of the Division. The Group is informal, and the meetings facilitate candid discussions about the operations of the Division. Typically, these discussions encourage cooperation between the judges and the legal profession in developing suggested improvements to the Division’s operations.
Judicial member
The Hon. Justice David Hammerschlag (Chair)
Possession List Users Group
The Possession List Users Group was established in 2006. The Possession List is, numerically, the largest list in the Common Law Division and involves claims for possession of land following mortgage default. The Group comprises representatives from a range of law firms who regularly appear for plaintiffs in the List and organisations (Legal Aid New South Wales, the Consumer Credit Legal Centre, and Redfern Legal Centre) who provide legal assistance to those experiencing problems with debt. The Group does not have appointed members. Rather, representatives from those firms and organisations attend and provide a range of views on relevant issues. The Group’s primary objectives are to encourage frank discussion concerning issues affecting the running of the List, to identify how any problems might be overcome and to improve court processes to assist parties in this class of proceedings.
Members
The Hon. Justice Tim Faulkner
Ms. Rebel Kenna, Executive Director and Principal Registrar
Mr. George Galanis, Director and Prothonotary
Ms. Jennifer Hedge, Common Law Case Management Registrar
Ms. Sivashna Chetty, Senior Deputy Registrar
Ms. Naomi Ubrihien, Manager Client Services
Mr. Milio Cesta-Incani, Manager Listings
Mr. Scott Graham, Counter Manager, Client Services
Mr. Nabil Abdi, Senior Client Service Clerk & Chief Clerk
Supreme Court representatives on other bodies
Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (ACICA)
Judicial Liaison Committee
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice Kelly Rees
Australian Judicial Officers Association
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice Michael Walton (Vice President)
The Hon. Justice Richard Weinstein
Australasian Joint Judges’ Committee
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice James Stevenson (Chair)
Board of State Records Authority of New South Wales
The State Records Authority of New South Wales is the New South Wales Government’s archives and records management authority. Its purposes are to preserve the State’s archives and promote their use, and to set standards and provide guidance and services to improve records management in the New South Wales Public Sector. Pursuant to its governing legislation, its Board is required to include a New South Wales judge nominated by the Chief Justice of New South Wales.
Supreme Court representative
The Hon. Justice Mark Leeming
Costs Assessment Rules Committee
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice Nicholas Chen (Chair)
Mr. Brendan Bellach, Senior Deputy Registrar
Council of Chief Justices
Harmonisation of Rules Committee
The Hon. Justice Ashley Black
Law Admissions Consultative Committee
The Law Admissions Consultative Committee consists of representatives of the law admitting authority in each Australia jurisdiction, the Committee of Australian Law Deans, the Australasian Professional Legal Education Council, and the Law Council of Australia. It is generally responsible to the Council of Chief Justices, which appoints the chairperson of LACC. LACC’s main role is to forge consensus between the bodies represented by its members on matters relating to the academic and practical legal training requirements for admission to the Australian legal profession. The functions of LACC are to develop, consider and make recommendations about policies, procedures and other matters directly or indirectly related to admission to the legal profession.
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice Anthony Payne
The Hon. Justice Francois Kunc (Chair)
Judicial Commission of New South Wales bodies
The Judicial Commission of New South Wales provides a continuing education and information program for the judicial officers of New South Wales and examines complaints about judicial officers’ ability or behaviour. Ten Commission members guide the Commission’s strategic direction and examine all complaints.
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Andrew Bell, Chief Justice (President and Chair)
The Hon. Justice Julie Ward, President of the Court of Appeal
Civil Bench Book
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice Kristina Stern
The Hon. Justice Peter Garling RFD
The Hon. Justice Richard Weinstein
The Hon. Justice Coleman
Criminal Trial Bench Book
The Honourable Justice Adamson chairs the Criminal Trials Bench Book Committee. The judicial members of the Committee are listed below. Its function is to continually revise and update the Criminal Trials Bench Book with suggested jury directions and information on procedural aspects concerning the myriad issues that arise in the course of criminal trials in the District Court and the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice N Adams
The Hon. Acting Justice R A Hulme
Sentencing Bench Book
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice Natalie J Adams
The Hon. Justice Yehia
The Hon. Justice Deborah Sweeney
Indigenous Justice Program
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice Michael Slattery AM AM (Mil) RFD (Co-Chair)
The Hon. Justice Dina Yehia (Co-Chair)
Ngara Yura (Judicial Commission Aboriginal Liaison Committee)
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice Dina Yehia (Chair)
The Hon. Justice Natalie J Adams
Judicial Council on Diversity and Inclusion
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice Dhanji
National Judicial College of Australia
Joint Conference on Sentencing (with ANU, Faculty of Law)
Supreme Court representative
The Hon. Justice Desmond Fagan
National Judicial Orientation Program
The Hon. Justice Julie Ward
Programs Advisory Committee
Supreme Court representative
The Hon. Justice Julie Ward
Writing Better Judgments Planning Committee
The Planning Committee for Judgment Writing has been developed for the Australian judiciary. The program is designed to enhance participants’ judgment writing skills through analysis, discussions and rewriting of judgments in small groups, assisted by professional writers and senior judges.
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice James Stevenson
The Hon. Acting Justice Monika Schmidt AM
Law Extension Committee (Sydney University)
Supreme Court representative
The Hon. Justice Ian Pike (Chair)
Legal Profession Admission Board (LPAB)
The Board has responsibility for three broad functions, being the oversight of the approval and admission of lawyers in New South Wales, the accreditation of law schools in New South Wales and the examination of students-at-law for the Diploma of Law course taught in conjunction with the Law Extension Committee of the University of Sydney.
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Andrew Bell, Chief Justice
The Hon. Justice Anthony Payne (Presiding Member)
The Hon. Justice Jeremy Kirk (Deputy Presiding Member)
The Hon. Justice Elisabeth Peden
Examinations Committee
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice Elisabeth Peden (Chair)
The Hon. Justice Nicholas Chen
Legal Qualifications Committee
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice Jeremy Kirk (Chair)
The Hon. Justice Julia Lonergan
Legal Services Council Admissions Committee
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice Francois Kunc (Chair)
Law Courts Library Advisory Committee
The Committee was established in 2024 relating to the operations of the Law Courts Library situated in the Law Courts Building at Queen’s Square Sydney. The Committee gives advice in relation to the management of the library and its collections and is constituted by two representatives from the Supreme Court and one each from the Land and Environment Court, Industrial Relations Court, District Court and Local Court.
Members
The Hon. Justice Mark Leeming
The Hon. Justice Scott Nixon
New South Wales Law Reform Commission
The Hon. Justice Anna Mitchelmore (Deputy Chair and Commissioner)
NSW Law Reporting Liaison Committee
Supreme Court representative
The Hon. Justice John Basten
The Hon. Justice Mark Leeming
Parliamentary Counsel’s Consultative Group
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice Mark Leeming
The Hon. Justice John Basten
Standing International Forum on Commercial Courts (SIFoCC) – Working Group
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Andrew Bell, Chief Justice
Uniform Rules Committee
The Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) and the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) commenced in 2005, consolidating provisions in relation to civil procedure under a single Act. It provides a common set of rules for civil proceedings in the Supreme, District and Local Courts of New South Wales, and, to a limited extent, in the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales and the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales. The Uniform Rules Committee was established under Section 8 and Schedule 2 of the Act. The Chief Justice chairs the Committee, with representatives from the Supreme Court and other courts, as well as from the New South Wales Bar Association and the Law Society of New South Wales.
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Andrew Bell, Chief Justice (Chair)
The Hon. Justice Ward
The Hon. Justice Christine Adamson
The Hon. Justice Lindsay
The Hon. Justice Chen
Ms. Rebel Kenna, A/Executive Director and Principal Registrar (Secretary)
Government Reference Group for Coercive Control
Supreme Court representatives
The Hon. Justice Natalie J Adams
We acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which we work and we pay respect to the Elders, past, present and future.