Documents exhibited by statements are identified by an exhibit mark which, by convention, is the witness's three initials followed by a serial number - e.g. JJS12.
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 to the document's Custom Text/Exhibit field, should be suffixed to identify the particular document - for example JJS12b6 for the second document in the exhibit which starts at page 6 of the exhibit.
If a copy of an exhibited document is not already in Bundledocs or eBrief Ready you should load it and the exhibit mark should be entered into the Custom Text/Exhibit field.
However most exhibited documents will probably be copies of documents already loaded having been previously disclosed by a party. In that case you can normally simply add the exhibit mark of the new exhibit to the Custom Text/Exhibit field of the document already loaded (after any existing entry in the field) and not load the new exhibited copy. But bear the following in mind:
Check carefully that the new exhibit really is the same as the document already loaded. 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 (the original letter sent by one party and the letter with the recipient's hand-written annotations) so that the new exhibit should be loaded after all.
Most documents consist of typed text and providing the copy already loaded is clear it is not necessary to load an identical exhibit 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 already loaded then you should normally load the new exhibit, add the exhibit mark to its Custom Text/Exhibit field and add after that the contents of the Custom Text/Exhibit field of the copy already loaded. Then set the copy originally loaded to Excluded status - the most convenient way of doing this is to create a section named Duplicates, set that section to Excluded status, and move the copy originally loaded into it.
Although normally the objective is that the best copy of any photo, plan, or diagram should be loaded, with any duplicate being set to Excluded status, there are certain circumstances in which the new exhibit should be loaded even though it is of poorer quality than the copy already loaded with both copies then remaining in Included status. 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 one copy of each document loaded - so you can add the exhibit mark of an exhibited copy to the Custom Text/Exhibit field of a document already loaded (after any existing entry) if it is the same, and not load the exhibited copy. 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 loaded even though a copy of the same document is already loaded.
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This 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 will not be applicable to every case: it is intended to be used only in conjunction with more 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 April 2025. Disclaimer.