Parramatta Local Court: what to expect

The day of the week decides your list

Parramatta is not a court where everything happens on a Monday. The published listing arrangements set out a weekly pattern that repeats every week of the year, and the day printed on your Court Attendance Notice tells you which kind of hearing you are walking into.

• Monday. Defended hearings only. If you have a Monday date, somebody expects to run a contest.
• Tuesday. Charge list, callover, domestic violence and AVO, and defended hearings.
• Wednesday. Charge list, callover, defended hearings and the Merit list.
• Thursday. Charge list, the DPP list, defended hearings, the traffic list, and Revenue NSW and Transport for NSW appeals.
• Friday. Defended hearings and the civil work: motions, callover and pre-trial review. On the second and fourth Friday of the cycle, the Commonwealth list as well.

Two practical points fall out of that. If you are appealing a licence suspension or a registration decision, Thursday is your day, and it is the same day the DPP list runs, so the building is busy. And if you are a respondent to an AVO, you are in the Tuesday list alongside the charge list, which is one of the heaviest days of the week.

The Drug Court

Parramatta is one of only four Drug Court locations in New South Wales, alongside Sydney, Toronto and Dubbo. That is genuinely unusual and it changes what is available to some defendants here.

The Drug Court takes referrals from Local and District Courts across the state for people who live in one of thirty listed local government areas, which cover most of Sydney and extend to the Hunter and Dubbo. Entry is by ballot, drawn on Thursdays, with referral details due by 12pm on the Wednesday beforehand.

The Drug Court registry is on the ground floor at 12 George Street, on (02) 8688 4525.

This matters because a drug dependent defendant facing a gaol sentence has an option here that does not exist at most courts, and it is time limited by a weekly ballot. If it might apply to you, it needs to be raised early, not at sentence.

Do not go to the wrong George Street building

The Childrens Court is not in this building. It sits at 2 George Street, Parramatta NSW 2150, with its own registry on (02) 8688 1888, its own postal address and its own hours, including a care and protection reception that closes between 1:00pm and 2:00pm.

There is also a live inconsistency in what the District Court publishes about itself. Its court locations page puts the Parramatta criminal registry at 12 George Street with PO Box 92, while its contact page gives 6 George Street with a different fax. Both are official NSW District Court pages.

If you are serving or filing a document rather than simply attending, ring 1300 679 272 and confirm the counter before you travel. Turning up at the right street with the wrong number is a wasted morning.

Getting there and parking

Parramatta station is the main train and bus interchange for the area, and the Parramatta Light Rail interchanges with both Parramatta and Westmead stations, with CBD stops including Church Street and Parramatta Square.

For parking, the City of Parramatta runs the Justice Precinct Car Park on Hunter Street, which is the obvious choice. Published rates are $4.00 for the first hour, $7.00 to two hours, $11.00 to three, and $14.00 for anything from four to eighteen hours. Sunday is free for the first two hours then $10.00 flat. Early bird, in before 8am and out after 2pm on a weekday, is $12.00.

There is a 2 metre height limit, so a ute with a roof rack or a van will not fit. Parramatta Square car park nearby takes vehicles up to 3.8 metres.

The four to eighteen hour rate being the same as the three to four hour rate is worth knowing. Once you are past three hours, staying all day costs nothing extra, so on a defended hearing there is no reason to keep coming back to the car.

What happens on the day

Court starts at 9:30am. Legal Aid NSW advises arriving an hour before your matter if you want to see a duty lawyer, because there is no appointment system and it is first in, first seen.

A first mention in the charge list is short. The magistrate wants to know whether you have a lawyer, whether you have the police facts sheet, and what you propose to do. You are not required to plead, and an adjournment to get legal advice is a normal request.

Audio Visual Link is available in courtrooms 1.1, 1.4, 2.1 and 2.2, and bail video link in 1.1, 1.5 and 2.2. Note that 1.5 has bail video but is not listed for general AVL, which occasionally matters if a matter is being moved between rooms.

Court lists are published on the NSW Online Registry, not on any Queensland site. Check yours the morning of, and check the printed list in the foyer when you arrive.

Getting help at Parramatta

Legal Aid NSW has duty lawyers at all Local Courts. They can advise you, explain what is likely to happen, help with an adjournment and in limited circumstances appear for you. What a duty lawyer cannot do is run a defended hearing for you that same day.

Legal Aid's online JusticeHub request does not cover Parramatta. It is limited to Bankstown, Blacktown, Mount Druitt, Penrith and Sutherland. For Parramatta the routes are LawAccess NSW on 1300 888 529, or turning up early and asking at the counter.

For domestic violence matters, the Cumberland Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service covers Parramatta and attends on Tuesdays, which is the AVO list day. It can be reached on (02) 8833 0922. The statewide line is 1800 WDVCAS, 1800 938 227.

If you are coming from Queensland

We act in Sydney matters as well as Queensland ones, and the differences are not cosmetic. New South Wales commences proceedings by Court Attendance Notice rather than a notice to appear, sentences under the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) with section 10 dismissals and Conditional Release Orders rather than the Queensland provisions, and gives a right of appeal against a licence suspension to the Local Court that Queensland does not have.

Our Tweed Heads guide sets out those differences in detail. They apply equally here.

One more thing if you are flying or driving down between October and April: New South Wales observes daylight saving and Queensland does not. A 9:30am listing is 8:30am on a phone still set to Queensland time.

If you have a Parramatta matter, the first fifteen minutes by phone cost nothing. Call 07 5522 5777.