New High Court Practice Direction:Judicial Review

The president of the High Court has advised that, commencing on the second Monday in February (12 February), the following procedures will apply in respect of judicial review business:

• Where the court grants leave to apply for judicial review by notice of motion, it will at the time of granting such order fix the date for which the notice of motion seeking substantive relief is to be made returnable

• Such notices of motion will henceforth be made returnable for every day of the week and not exclusively for a Monday as has been the case to date

• Upon the first listing of such notice of motion, a short inter partes hearing will be conducted. At that hearing, directions will be given for the exchange of pre-trial documents

• At this first hearing the parties should be in a position to apprise the judge of the main issues in the case and suggest realistic time limits for the exchange of pre-trial documents. On foot of this, appropriate directions will be given. The motion will then be adjourned to a date subsequent to the final date for the exchange of such documents. It is expected that the court order as to directions will be complied with within the permitted time and only in exceptional circumstances will further extensions of time be granted

• Once the court is satisfied that all pre-trial matters have been disposed of, the motion will then be adjourned to the next available list to fix dates with a view to having a trial date assigned.