Everything you send or receive during the course of the litigation, including both correspondence about the case and formal litigation documents, will be automatically stored in your email system, but you will find that, as litigation proceeds over many months, you will end up with a large number of emails in your email system, so, whenever you receive, or send out, a key formal litigation document, you should store a copy of it in the appropriate location in Caselines Digital Case System (DCS), as described below, so that you can easily locate these important documents when needed as the case proceeds, and not have to search for them in your email system. In addition to what is created by the litigation process itself (i.e. formal litigation documents and correspondence about the case), you will be sent by the other party, at the Disclosure of Documents stage, copies of their documentary evidence – e.g. photographs or documents which came into existence in the ordinary course of events in the past such as letters, invoices, written agreements, emails, diaries, logs etc. which are probative of issues in dispute in the litigation. These items of documentary evidence should be stored in as separate DCS “case” as should your own documentary evidence. A word about terminology. The whole of the litigation is referred to as a "case" and the tribunal will allocate a case number. But the DCS system also uses the word "case" to refer to a collection of documents (from which, if necessary, a "bundle" can easily be produced). So there will be several DCS cases for your single tribunal case. Storing the above documents in DCS in the way described not only allows you to find key important documents quickly but also means that you can use the DCS system to generate a Disclosure list (at the Disclosure of Documents stage) automatically and, most importantly, will allow you to deal with the process of the production of a Trial Bundle. Because the process of production of the Trial Bundle is a collaborative task between the parties, and the other party might be inefficient, it is essential to have all documents which might need to be included in the Trial Bundle ready in Caselines so that, if necessary, the Trial Bundle (or a Supplementary Trial Bundle if the other side is producing the Trial Bundle and refuses to include documents you require) can be produced quickly in time to meet the deadline for delivery just before the trial. Also the DCS system is where I will look, from now on once you have set it up, for certain key documents as the litigation proceeds and you ask me to carry out work at each stage. It would not be cost-effective for me to search through your cloud storage, so don't give me access to your cloud storage, but instead you should put copies of the key documents and relevant documentary evidence, in DCS as explained below. You will be granting me access to the DCS Case Management and Proofs of Evidence and Offers cases and Documentary Evidence cases, as described below, so that I can use them for reference each time you ask me to do the next piece of work as the litigation proceeds. I do not need access to your own cloud storage such as Google Drive - indeed it it best if you do not grant me access to your own cloud storage as, because of the way the human mind works, if I have access to your cloud storage you may start to think - perhaps subconsciously - that when doing each piece of work you ask me to do, I will be considering everything contained in your cloud storage when, in fact, it is only the documents in the DCS Case Management and Proofs of Evidence and Offers cases and documentary evidence cases which I will be considering (together with any email message and attachments you provide to me at the point where you ask me to carry out the next piece of work in your case). Ensuring that I do not have access to your cloud storage will remind you that it is your responsibility to ensure that the DCS Case Management and Proofs of Evidence and Offers cases are up to date with the key documents they are designed to hold (but no other documents) and that all relevant disclosed documents (but only relevant documents) are in the DCS documentary evidence cases.
Organising documents in Caselines DCSIn the Caselines Digital Case System (DCS) groups of documents are organised into what are called cases and, within each case, documents can be further divided into sections. As shown below, you will initially need to create two or three DCS cases for your case, and you may need, later on, to create further cases to produce bundles for the trial. How to load documents is explained here. The documents to be stored in each DCS case are shown in the tables below. As well as making sure you do store the key formal litigation documents in the correct sections in the Case Management case as soon as you send or receive them, it is equally important that you do not store, in a DCS section, a document which does not belong there. If, for example, you were to store every piece of correspondence sent or received, into the sections of the Case Management intended for formal litigation documents, “just in case”, that would defeat the object because the important documents would be lost among the mass of more routine correspondence. Smith v Jones - Case Management caseSmith v Jones - Proofs of Evidence and Offers case
In addition to the two “cases” described above, there should be a separate Caselines “case” or “cases” for documentary evidence. If you have been using Caselines right from the start of litigation, it is convenient to create one “case” for your documents and a further case for documents produced by the other side. So one case would be named e.g. Smith v Jones – Applicant’s Documentary Evidence and one would be named Smith v Jones – Respondent’s Documentary Evidence. If, however, you only start to use Caselines later on in the process it may be convenient to just have a single case named e.g. Smith v Jones – Documentary Evidence containing both your documents and any documents produced by the other side. Of course where a document produced by the other side is identical to one you already have, you only need to load one copy. Usually the main run of documents are best arranged chronologically regardless of the document type, whether contract, purchase order, invoice, letter, email etc. in the Other Documents section, so that the sequence of events can be seen. However sometimes certain limited groups of documents (such as title deeds for different properties as shown in the example above) are best organised separately from the main run of documents – still organised chronologically but separately. Important Note It is important that you do not store, in the Caselines cases and sections shown above, documents which do not belong there. If, for example, you were to store every piece of correspondence sent or received, into the sections of the Case Management intended for formal litigation documents, “just in case”, that would defeat the object because the important documents would be lost among the mass of more routine correspondence. You may need, when the times comes, to create a bundle containing documents directly relating to a particular forthcoming hearing but this should be done by creating a new and separate Caselines case, to contain the documents required for that hearing (some of which may be copied from the reference cases), not by adding documents to the above cases and sections which do not belong there. Audio and Video file placeholdersDocumentary evidence includes not only written documents but also any relevant audio or video files (e.g. mp3 and mp4 files). You should store these on cloud storage. Google Drive is a very convenient (and free) cloud storage system though you should note that it, like all Google systems (including Gmail), is hosted outside the United Kingdom and so may not be subject to the same data protection standards as apply in the United Kingdom. For each video or audio file create a one page placeholder, select Get Shareable Link, and paste the link into the placeholder page so that the placeholder page looks something like this: Store the placeholder file in the Photographs and Videos section of the Documentary Evidence case. As well as the two or three DCS cases shown above – which are for general reference throughout the case - you may need, when the times comes, to create a DCS case specifically to produce a bundle for a particular tribunal hearing. All bundle DCS cases should have the word Bundle and and the month and year in yyyy-mm format immediately following the the name of the proceedings (e.g. Smith v Jones). This will ensure that they are listed chronologically in the DCS system. The main hearing, or "trial", occurs at the end of the litigation process but there may be short hearings on the way before the trial and, if so, a short hearing bundle will be required. The DCS cases for short hearings should be kept intact after the hearings they were produced for because although they may result in a tribunal order, and it is normally only the order which needs subsequently to be referred to, occasionally it happens that some occurrence in the future means that some document used in the earlier short hearing, which is not contained in the other DCS cases, needs to be consulted. A trial bundle case would be named e.g. Smith v Jones - Bundle 2017-07 - Trial and, after you have created the basic Trial Bundle case in DCS you would normally ask me to populate it with the documents which will be required (by copying selected documents from the two or three general reference cases shown above). Even if it is the other side, rather than you, which has been directed to assemble a trial bundle, you will need to tell the other side what documents you require to be included in it and in practice this is best done by creating a Smith v Jones – Documents to be Included in Trial Bundle case in Caselines. Once the trial has ended and the judge has pronounced judgment, that it normally the end of the litigation (barring any registration of the tribunal's order at the Land Registry which may be necessary, and any assessment of costs if that was not carried out at the end of the trial) but occasionally one side or the other may appeal to a higher court and, in that case, an appeal bundle case will be necessary. At any stage of the litigation a party can make an offer to settle. Sometimes it is agreed that there will be a formal mediation, conducted by a professional mediator, and if there is a mediation usually a mediation bundle is produced to be used by the parties and the mediator. Saving PDF copies of Bundles As explained above, whenever there is a court hearing a hearing bundle will need to be produced, either by you or by the other side. If the hearing bundle is produced by you using Caselines DCS it will be produced in PDF form before it is printed and you should save the bundle PDF (on your computer or in cloud storage). Although, once used for a hearing, a case bundle should be kept intact and unchanged in DCS, there is always the possibility of it being changed by mistake (you might amend it by mistake when you intended to update one of the general reference cases for example), so you should retain the bundle PDF as it was when you printed it out and created the hardcopy bundle, so that for each hearing you have an exact copy of what the hardcopy bundle contained. Organising Your Email FoldersVirtually all correspondence you send or receive in the course of litigation will be automatically stored in your email system. This even includes much correspondence received by post because some of that you will be emailing that to me to ask me to advise. Likewise you will be emailing to me PDF copies of any signed letters you send out by post which you have asked me to draft. Because searchable email folders are so convenient, people sometimes, even if they have no other reason to send by email, scan things in as PDFs and email them to themselves so that they can store them in a convenient email folder. For example if you receive an invoice for a disbursement by post, you could scan it in, email it to yourself, and store it in the CostsDisbursementsEvidence folder (as well as keeping the paper original). I would suggest that you have a high-level folder for emails relating to the case (named - e.g. Smith v Jones) to keep them separate from other emails, such as your personal emails, and that below that high-level folder you have at least the following sub-folders.
If a matter arises in the litigation which you ask my advice on, I might ask you to quickly provide me with PDF copies of the relevant emails which you have sent or received, particularly if an application is to be made for an interim order. You could simply create PDF copies of emails when I request them but, in case something arises urgently and time is short, you might want to plan ahead and set up Cloud HQ to ensure that whenever you send or receive an email a PDF copy is automatically created in your cloud storage (e.g. in Google Drive)so that if I should ever need to ask for a PDF copy of any email, you can quickly send it to me. Note that using CloudHQ will result in your data being processed outside the United Kingdom. Paper files you should keepThe original signed copies of formal litigation documents which have been filed/served (e.g. statements of case and witness statements) should be kept in a paper file in case the tribunal should require them to be produced.DisclaimerThis information page is designed to be used only by clients of John Antell who have entered into an agreement for the provision of legal services. The information in it is necessarily of a general nature and is intended to be used only in conjunction with specific advice to the individual client about the individual case. This information page should not be used by, or relied on, by anyone else.The information on this page about specific computer techniques is provided for information purposes only. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the information is accurate and up to date at the time it was written but no responsibility for its accuracy, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by me. You should satisfy yourself, before using any of the techniques, software or services described, that the techniques are appropriate for your purposes and that the software or service is reliable. This page was lasted updated in September 2017 Disclaimer |