Curthoys to sit on Supreme Court
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Chief Justice Peter Quinlan has today announced the full-time appointment of Justice Jeremy Curthoys to the Supreme Court.
Justice Curthoys will sit in the Supreme Court of Western Australia from November 1 2018, after serving as president of the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) since February 2014.
Judge Timothy Sharp, the current senior deputy president of SAT, will act as president.
Justice Curthoys will have responsibilities across the court’s general division, and will additionally be responsible for the judicial case management of contested probate matters and matters arising under the Family Provision Act 1972.
Chief Justice Peter Quinlan said these were the largest growth area of contested matters commenced in the general division (civil).
“Together with new procedures set out in the consolidated practice directions, additional judicial case management will be directed towards improving the timely and cost efficient resolution of these important matters,” he said.
“As has occurred in the past, Supreme Court judges are able to sit in the tribunal as supplementary presidential members if required.”
Law Society of Western Australia president Hayley Cormann commended Justice Curthoys on the appointment.
“I have no doubt (Justice Curthoys) will continue to make an outstanding contribution to our justice system in sitting full time in the Supreme Court and in particular having oversight of contested probate matters and those under the Family Provision Act 1972," she said.
During Justice Curthoys’ term as president, the SAT has made reductions in the time taken to finalise the matters that come before it.
According to the SAT’s 2016-17 annual report, the median time taken to finalise matters before the SAT was reduced to 12 weeks, from 16 weeks the previous year.
Justice Curthoys also oversaw the implementation of new automated systems for the SAT, including email distribution of orders, notices and correspondence, which resulted in a 35 per cent reduction in items being sent by postal service.