Can I represent my company in the Supreme Court of Victoria?
Last updated 1 May 2025
Last updated 1 May 2025
This page has information if:
You’re a director of a company, and
You want to represent your company without a lawyer,
In the Supreme Court of Victoria.
If your company has court proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria, your options are:
Arrange a lawyer to represent your company.
Apply for permission to represent your company.
You don’t have an automatic right to personally represent your company in the Supreme Court of Victoria. The law is that a lawyer needs to represent a company.
However, you can ask for permission from the Supreme Court to represent your company.
When making this decision, you should first consider the benefits of arranging a lawyer.
You should also consider the risks of applying to represent your company.
There are many benefits of arranging a lawyer to represent your company.
Some benefits are:
A lawyer can help represent the interests of the company independently.
A lawyer means you benefit from their legal and practical advice.
A lawyer’s experience navigating the legal system can help reduce delays in court proceedings.
Applying to personally represent your company in court exposes you and your company to additional risk.
Before applying to the Supreme Court, you should understand the impact of the following:
It’s important you understand these risks to make a more informed decision before applying for permission to represent your company.
The application itself will add a separate hearing and process in the case.
If your application isn’t successful, you and your company could face more legal costs
The application could expose you to higher personal financial risk.
Some ways this may happen:
Higher legal costs that you may have to pay personally.
If your company is suing another party (ie. your company is the plaintiff), the other party (ie. the defendant) may apply for assurance that their legal costs will be paid with a security for costs application. A security for costs application may request that you personally guarantee you’ll pay their legal costs if you lose.
If you’re applying because your company can’t afford a lawyer, this may raise concerns about the company’s solvency, and whether you’re meeting your legal duties as a director. There are serious legal risks for a company trading while insolvent, and for directors not meeting their duties.
If your company is suing another party (ie. your company is the plaintiff), you could risk having your company’s claim dismissed.
This may happen if:
The other party (ie. the defendant) gets a security for costs order that ensures you’ll pay their legal costs if you lose, and
You don’t meet the conditions of the security, and
The defendant applies to temporarily stop (ie. stay) or dismiss your company’s claim.
The Supreme Court is cautious when deciding whether to allow a person to represent their company. You shouldn’t assume that your application will be successful.
Before applying you should:
Weigh up the risks and effort of making the application itself,
Be realistic about the likelihood of success, and
Consider the benefit you think you would get if successful.
To represent your company:
You must have the authority to act for your company, and
There must be appropriate circumstances to make an exception for you to represent your company.
It may be challenging to persuade the Supreme Court that there are appropriate circumstances to depart from the law and let you represent your company.
There are a range of factors the Supreme Court may consider when deciding whether to give you permission to represent your company.
The type of things the court will look at include:
What has happened so far in the case, including how long it has been going for, how many hearings have been held, what documents have been filed, and how you have engaged in the court process.
What else needs to happen in the case.
How complicated the remaining steps in the case are going to be.
Whether you can handle the remaining steps by yourself.
Your conduct in the case so far and whether you can conduct the case in an orderly way. The Supreme Court will consider how the case has been run in the past when thinking about this.
Whether the Supreme Court will need to allocate more resources to the case. This means, whether there will be more steps like hearings, applications, delays, and correspondence, if you represent your company rather than a lawyer.
Whether there are financial reasons why your company can’t afford a lawyer.
What impact there would be on other parties in the case. The Supreme Court will seriously consider whether you representing the company would cause delays or complications that mean the other parties incur higher legal costs.
If you apply to represent your company, there are 3 possible outcomes of your application:
The Supreme Court may give you permission to represent your company in the entire case.
The Supreme Court may give you permission to represent your company to take a specific step or steps in the case. This means you can only do certain things approved by the Supreme Court (eg. represent your company at a directions hearing).
The Supreme Court may refuse your application. This means that a lawyer must represent your company.
You can apply for permission to represent your company by sending an application to the Supreme Court of Victoria using their electronic filing system, RedCrest.
Your application must be made in a form called a summons.
You should attach an affidavit explaining why permission should be given for you to represent your company instead of a lawyer.
Your application, including the affidavit and any supporting documents, should uploaded using RedCrest.
The Supreme Court has registries across Victoria. If you need more information about applying to represent your company at the Supreme Court, find addresses, opening hours, and contact details on the court’s Locations page.
An affidavit explains your circumstances and reasons for applying to represent your company. Provide all the evidence that supports why permission should be granted.
In your affidavit, include the following:
Your evidence to show you have authority from the company.
Your evidence that you’re a director. You can attach (ie. annex) an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) report confirming that you are currently a director of the company.
Your evidence to support why there are appropriate circumstances for you to represent your company. You’ll need to attach (ie. annex) any supporting documents proving your circumstances.
An affidavit is a formal court document. You must officially swear (or affirm) that everything in the affidavit is true in front of a legally authorised affidavit taker. Find more information on the Supreme Court’s Prepare an affidavit page.
If you lie in an affidavit, you could face criminal penalties.
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This resource was last updated on 1 May 2025. This is legal information only and does not constitute legal advice. You should always contact a lawyer for advice specific to your situation. Please view our disclaimer for more information.