E BUNDLES: GUIDANCE FROM THE FINANCIAL REMEDIES COURT

The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary site has an “e-bundles protocol”. Since this is a sign of things to come it would benefit all practitioners to read it.

THE GUIDANCE

4. Where an e-bundle is to be used the following technical requirements should be observed:
(a) PDF format is to be used;
(b) All documents are to be contained, if possible, within one single PDF file;
(c) The PDF file must be searchable;
(d) Pagination must be computer generated within the PDF, not hand-written
(i) Original pagination must be by section and page number i.e. A1, A2, A3…. B1, B2, B3 etc;
(ii) Insertions, after compilation of the original bundles, should be using ‘legal’ numbering (e.g. B13.1, B13.2, B 13.3 to be inserted between B13 and B14);
(e) Each section of the bundle, and each individual document referenced in the index, should be separately bookmarked.

5. The e-bundle should be delivered via a cloud-based link (e.g. iCloud, OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive) rather than in a series of emails.

6. It is acceptable for a hearing to be partly paperless. For example, in a routine financial remedy case involving oral evidence it will be commonplace for a witness to work from a paper bundle, while the judge and counsel are paperless.

7. Nothing in this Protocol limits the parties from agreeing, with the consent of the court, to use an e-bundle service from a commercial provider.

GUIDANCE FOR PREPARATION OF THE BUNDLE

The site also has a link to a YouTube guide on preparing the bundle, available here.