Documents exhibited by statements are identified by an exhibit mark which is then quoted in the statements. By convention the format of the exhibit mark is the witness's three initials followed by a serial number - e.g. JJS12.
If you do not already have a copy of an exhibited document in your folders (or in a document management system you are using)vyou should store it ensuring the exhibit mark is included in its filename.
(Although it is not good practice, sometimes an exhibit will contain copies of more than one document. In this case the exhibit mark, when added as part of a filename, should be suffixed to identify the particular document - for example JJS12-p6 for the second document in the exhibit which starts at page 6 of the exhibit.)
However most exhibited documents will probably be copies of documents previously disclosed by a party and which you already have. In that case you can normally simply add the exhibit mark of the new exhibit to the filename of the document copy you already have (after any existing exhibit mark or other reference). But bear the following in mind:
Check carefully that the new exhibit really is the same as the document copy you already have. The recipient of a letter might have made a hand-written annotation on it, for example, so that although, at first glance, the copies may appear to be the same, on closer inspection they are in fact two different documents (e.g. the original letter sent by one party is the document you already have, and the new exhibited document is different because it has the recipient's hand-written annotations) so that the new exhibit should also be stored. Note: in this situation you might query why, if the tribunal has made a disclosure order, a copy of the annotated letter was not disclosed as the earlier Disclosure of Documents stage.
Most documents consist of typed text and providing the copy already stored is clear it is not necessary to store an identical exhibit as well just because it is very slightly clearer. However if a new exhibit is a photo, plan, or diagram and it is clearer than the copy you already have then you should normally store the new exhibit, add its exhibit mark at the start of its filename, then add after that any exhibit marks (or statement of case references etc.) which the previously stored copy had.
Although normally the objective is that the best copy of any photo, plan, or diagram should be stored for future use, with any duplicate being in a backup folder just in case there is any query later, there are certain circumstances in which the new exhibit should also be stored even though it is of poorer quality than the copy already stored with both copies then being used for the proceedings. Doing this would be appropriate where, for example, when the witness makes some assertion in their statement they are arguably being misled by the poor quality exhibit they are using. See here for a fuller explanation.
Note the same principles apply to the exhibits of your own witnesses - i.e. normally you only need to have one copy - so normally you can add the exhibit mark of an exhibited copy to the filename of a document already stored (after any existing exhibit marks) if it is the same, and not store the new exhibited copy (other than in a backup folder). But there are some circumstances where, in order to do justice to what a witness is saying, an exhibited copy of a document needs to be stored as well as the copy you already have.
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This page was lasted updated in May 2026. Disclaimer.