But barristers have warned that the quality of justice must not be lost in the pursuit of faster turnarounds.

Considerable effort has been put into reducing delays in the ACT Supreme Court, where cases had dragged out significantly, in some instances for more than two years.

The court's new chief justice, Helen Murrell, pledged to tackle the delays when she was appointed two years ago, as did ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell.

The number of cases pending for 12 months or more has since been largely reduced.

In mid-2011, there were 169 cases, or 38.1 per cent, that were pending for more than 12 months.

That was reduced to just 45, or 15.7 per cent, in May this year.

The number of matters outstanding for more than two years also fell, from 38 in mid-2011 to nine in May.

A spokesperson for Mr Corbell described the results as a "significant reduction" in the court's backlog.

Chief Justice Murrell's reforms to listing practices, over listing trials during four to five week blitz periods, has helped reduce wait times.

But ACT Bar Association president Shane Gill has warned that the reduction of delays is only "one measure of the functioning of the legal system".

"Where other aspects of the provision of justice are compromised by efforts to reduce the delay, the overall effect is not a positive one," he said.

"The position of the Bar is that the key quality to be pursued is that good justice is being administered. While it is of great importance that it be timely, it is essential that it be good."

Mr Gill said the reduction has been achieved partly by stacking cases on top of each other.

He said that had made it difficult to prepare and run cases, and increased the costs for litigants.

"Making a difficult process more difficult is a heavy price to pay for speed," he said.

Until last week, the ACT Magistrates Court was listing its own cases to support the higher court's blitzes on trials.

But Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker and her colleagues recently advised that policy could not be continued.

Ms Walker fears the Supreme Court's delays could shift to the lower court, and said the ongoing support was unsustainable.

Mr Gill said the effect of that change was "yet to be felt".

But he said it showed the strain of accommodating the Supreme Court's intensive listing was being felt in other areas of the court system.

The addition of a fifth full-time judge to the ACT Supreme Court from mid-next year would help achieve timeliness without compromising quality.

"The Bar hopes that this move will give timeliness in the court process without the other adverse effects currently being experienced in the pursuit of the reduction of delay," he said.