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 a copy of an exhibited document is not already in your document management system you should load it ensuring the exhibit mark is in its name (or it is otherwise identified as that exhibit using the appropriate feature of your document management system).
(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 document name, 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 therefore already loaded. In that case you can normally simply add the exhibit mark of the new exhibit to the name of the document already loaded (after any existing exhibit mark or other reference) 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 (e.g. the original letter sent by one party is the document already loaded, and the new exhibited document is different because it has the recipient's hand-written annotations) so that the new exhibit should be loaded after all. 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 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 its exhibit mark at the start, then add after that any exhibit marks (or statement of case references etc.) which the previously loaded copy had and then move the previously loaded copy to an "excluded" section/folder.
Although normally the objective is that the best copy of any photo, plan, or diagram should be loaded, with any duplicate being moved to an "excluded" section/folder, 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. 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 include one copy - so normally you can add the exhibit mark of an exhibited copy to the name of a document already loaded (after any existing exhibit marks) if it is the same, and not load the new 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 December 2025. Disclaimer.