Model Litigant Policy
Premier's Memorandum 2016-03
The Premier has issued Premier's Memorandum M2016-03-Model Litigant Policy for Civil Litigation and Guiding Principles for Civil Claims for Child Abuse.
This Memorandum sets out the Model Litigant Policy for Civil Litigation (the Model Litigant Policy), which provides principles for maintaining proper standards in litigation and the provision of legal services in NSW. The Memorandum also incorporates the NSW Guiding Principles for Government Agencies Responding to Civil Claims for Child Abuse (the Guiding Principles).
The Model Litigant Policy can be accessed at 
M2016-03-Model Litigant Policy for Civil Litigation and Guiding Principles for Civil Claims for Child Abuse.
Background
The Model Litigant Policy is designed to provide guidelines for best practice for government agencies in civil litigation matters. It is founded upon the concepts of behaving ethically, fairly and honestly to model best practice in litigation. Under the policy, government agencies are required to:
- Deal with claims promptly
- Not take advantage of a claimant who lacks the resources to litigate a legitimate claim
- Pay legitimate claims
- Avoid litigation
- Keep costs to a minimum, and
- Apologise where the State has acted inappropriately.
The Model Litigant Policy was approved for adoption by all government agencies on 8 July 2008. The revised Policy was released on 1 July 2016 under Premier's Memorandum 2016-03.
View a copy of the policy [PDF, 17kb].