How to Create a Final Hearing Bundle

What is a Final Hearing Bundle?

At the Final Hearing in a civil case where witnesses are questioned, documentary evidence is received and each side's barrister has an opportunity to address arguments to the judge - sometimes known as the Trial - the documents which the judge and the parties will refer to are contained in a "bundle" - a large PDF containing a bookmark for each document within it. A hardcopy of the PDF may be used as well.

Traditionally, in the past, documents such as witness statements, letters, contracts, photographs, etc, some originals and come copies, were bound up together in a bundle called a Trial Bundle. Nowadays an eBundle is used either directly or in hardcopy.

Bookmarks, Index, and hyperlinks

The judge and each party's barrister at the final hearing have identical copies of the Bundle. There will also be a hardcopy for the use of witnesses when giving evidence. When a witness giving evidence is asked to look at a particular page, the parties' barristers and the judge can easily and quickly refer to the same page in their copies.  

Every document has a bookmark giving a brief description of the document and its date but you need to know where to start looking in the bookmarks pane and the eBundle will be arranged in several sections with documents arranged chronologically within each section to make it easy to find the document you want.

Pages of documents are referred to at the hearing by Bundle page number. A witness will be asked by the barrister questioning them to turn to a particular page and everyone else then knows what page to look at. Each user of an eBundle can type the page number into the PDF viewer but it is easier to scroll down the bookmarks pane so, to facilitate this, each bookmark contains, as well as the document description and date, the starting page number of the document.

Where a statement within an eBundle refers to a document, there should be a click-able link to the document.

The user of a hardcopy of the Bundle cannot use bookmarks or hyperlinks and cannot find pages by typing in a page number so there are some additional markings in the Bundle designed particularly with hardcopy users in mind. Where a statement has a click-able link to a document referred to, the page number of that document will be imprinted in the right hand margin of the statement to assist those using the hardcopy. The page number of each page is imprinted at the bottom right of the page and if the hardcopy is, as is usual, in more than one volume there should be labels on the volumes indicating which page ranges each volume contains. It is, of course, important that the imprinted page number matches the PDF page number (e.g. the 300th page in the PDF must be imprinted with 300) with every page, including index and section title pages, numbered consecutively. The main Index, which by convention is at the start of the bundle (and in the Upper Tribunal is required to be at the start of the bundle) contains the same information as the bookmarks - document description, document date, and page number - but with information laid out in columns. It is mainly designed for users of the hardcopy but may occasionally be consulted by users of the eBundle in preference to the bookmarks pane. Users of the eBundle generally prefer to use the bookmarks pane because it can be scrolled independently of the main pane displaying pages, but when first looking at the eBundle, to get an overview of its size and contents, the Index, set out in columns, may be preferred to the bookmarks pane. Also if you are looking for a particular document, and you cannot find it in the position you expect so that you need to look through from the beginning, it will be easier to use the Index laid out in columns than to scan right through the bookmarks pane. Every entry in the Index is a clickable link. 

Typical arrangement of sections in an eBundle

The rules and/or practice directions of many tribunals set out requirements for eBundles in civil cases and these may be augmented or modified by specific directions given in a particular case. So there can be some degree of variation but the description which follows is broadly applicable to most civil cases in England and Wales for the final hearing at which witnesses are giving evidence (if the hearing is an appeal by way of review without live witnesses then the contents and layout will be different). As explained above it is important that the documents are arranged in the eBundle in logical order so that the index/bookmarks (which, of course, list them in the same order) are easy to use - i.e. it should be possible to guess roughly where a document is likely to appear in the index/series of bookmarks so that, in most instances, it is not necessary to look all the way though a long index or series of bookmarks. So, after the Index, it is usual to arrange an eBundle like this: 

Section A - Statements of Case These are documents drafted by each party's barrister which set out concisely, and often in a somewhat technical legal manner, what each party alleges. This section will also contain, following the statements of case, orders/directions issued by the tribunal about preparation for and/or conduct of the final hearing if those orders/directions might need to be referred to at the hearing. Any Notices about evidence which a party has served - for example a Notice in which a party challenges the authenticity of a document the other party wishes to rely on - may follow in this section.  The title of this section can be a brief summary of the main types of document it contains. For example if there are no Notices and the directions are in letter rather than "order" form, it could be named Statements of Case and Directions.  

Section B - Applicants' Witness Statements. Normally the Applicant's (or Claimant's) own witness statement first and then the statements of the Applicant's/Claimant's other witnesses in alphabetical order of witness surname or some other convenient order. If there are two or more statements from the same witness to be included in the Bundle they should appear next to each other, the earlier one first.

Section C - Respondents' Witness Statements.  Normally the Respondent's (or Defendant's) own witness statement first and then the statements    of the Respondent's/Defendant's other witnesses in alphabetical order of witness surname or some other convenient order. If there are two or more statements from the same witness to be included in the Bundle they should appear next to each other, the earlier one first.

Section D - Expert Reports. Reports by experts (e.g. engineer, surveyor) specifically for these proceedings would be in a separate section together with any appendices attached to the reports.

Section E - Documentary Evidence. This section is usually the largest part of the Bundle. It contains all the documents referred to in statements of case and in witness statements and any other documents which either side wishes to rely on at the hearing. Having the documentary evidence section right at the end means that in any hardcopy if desired the statements can be in the first hardcopy volume and the documents referred to can be in the second or subsequent volumes so that it is possible to have a page of a statement, and a page of a document referred to in that statement, both open simultaneously.    

Most proceedings are concerned with past events (past events which may affect current legal rights) so the documentary evidence section usually consists of documentary evidence which came into existence in the ordinary course of events in the past such as photos, letters, purchase orders, invoices, written agreements, emails etc. which tend to help to prove where the truth lies on any issue in dispute, arranged chronologically. 

Having a single chronological run of documents, whether contract, purchase order, invoice, letter, email etc. so that the sequence of events can be appreciated is usual but sometimes there will be good reason for having some documents of a particular category in a separate documentary evidence section. For example sometimes photographs are included in chronological sequence with all the other documents in a single documentary evidence section, but sometimes it is more appropriate to have a separate section just for photos. it may depend on whether the photos show a series of changes over time which correlate with events evidenced by other documents, or whether they show different aspects of a largely static situation. Also, in a case concerning property, it may be appropriate to have formal title deeds in a section by themselves (or a section for each property). So rather than having a single Documentary Evidence section there may be several documentary evidence sections like this:

Photos

Title Deeds

Other Documents

with the Other Documents section being the main chronological documentary evidence section.

Other examples where it might be appropriate to have a separate section for a certain group of evidential documents might include the situation where there are a large number of bank statements to be included. If selected bank statements are included in the eBundle in order to prove that specific payments were made or received then those statements would be likely to be included in the main chronological section, but if a complete collection of bank statements for an account over a number of years are to be included in the eBundle to show that a particular payment was never received or made or to show a pattern of regular receipts and payments, or some financial trend, then a separate section containing that set of bank statements in chronological order might be more appropriate.

If there is any video or audio evidence for the hearing this section would contain a single-page placeholder for each video or audio file, so that they are not overlooked.

Arrangement of sub-documents

If the eBundle contains any emails which have attachments then the attachments are arranged as sub-documents of the main email message document. The same applies to documents attached to (or enclosed with) a letter sent by post, or to individual documents within a composite document such as an Epitome of Title document (which consists of a schedule followed by copies of all the documents listed in the schedule). Identifying documents as sub-documents of a main document is generally done by giving each sub-document a bookmark which is a sub-bookmark of the main document's bookmark. In addition it is usual for the entries for each sub-document in the index, following the main document entry, to be indented. 

Including only necessary documents 

To some extent the judge will rely on the barristers at the hearing to refer to individual documents as the hearing proceeds but, in addition, the judge may read at least some documents in advance, and/or during adjournments, and if there are a large number of unnecessary documents in the eBundle - documents which are not relevant to the particular issues in dispute which the judge is to decide - time is wasted.

Avoiding duplication

Time is also wasted if there is more than one copy of a document in the eBundle. When reading through the eBundle if the reader comes across a page which they think is the same as a document they have read elsewhere in the bundle they then may feel they need to try to locate the copy they have already read and compare it, to check that it really is the same, before deciding whether or not they need to read through the copy they have just come across. This wastes time. Also sometimes the reader will be looking at a chronologically arranged section and be asking themselves questions such "are the photos on this range of pages a complete set of all the photos taken between 2010 and 2015?". If the reader is aware that there are other photos elsewhere in the eBundle (not arranged chronologically) they may feel that they have to locate them just to check that they are duplicates of ones in the range already found and not additional to them. That also takes time. So duplication should generally be avoided.

Since the avoidance of duplication means that documents referred to in a statement will not immediately follow the statement, steps need to be taken to allow the reader of a statement to quickly turn to documents referred to. A statement, when originally signed and sent to the other side, will either quote exhibit marks and have copies of those documents with exhibit labels accompanying the statement (or else it will quote the disclosure list number of each document referred to). In the eBundle copies of exhibited documents will not appear immediately following the statement but will be in the appropriate chronological positions elsewhere in the eBundle, as will documents referred to by disclosure list number, so it is important that,  wherever a document is referred to in the statement, the eBundle page number of the document is added opposite the reference to that document. Exhibit marks/disclosure list numbers are also given in bookmarks, in the index and can be printed at the foot of every page of the referred-to document (on the opposite side from the eBundle page number). 

Avoidance of duplication may mean that in the eBundle some email attachments are replaced by a note indicating where another copy of the attached document may be found elsewhere in the eBundle but it is important to keep a sense of proportion:

Use of Hardcopies

Some users of the Final Hearing eBundle may refer to it exclusively and not use any hardcopy at all. At the other end of the scale others may mostly use a hardcopy and only use the eBundle occasionally e.g. when they need to search for a word. 

Most tribunals require at least one "official" hardcopy to be produced by the party producing the eBundle for the use of witnesses when giving evidence, and may require further "official" hardcopies to be produced for the use of the judge, other tribunal members, and the other side. If there are such "official" hardcopies any user choosing to print their own hardcopy will want to arrange their hardcopy to match the "official" hardcopies so that, for example,  if a witness at the final hearing is referred to volume 2, the user can also look in their volume 2 knowing that it contains the same page range. 

In order to assist users who print their own hardcopy from the eBundle (and also so that users of the eBundle itself know where any page they refer to is in other user's hardcopies) if the "official" hardcopy is in more than one volume, the eBundle should indicate which pages are in which hardcopy volume and what colour coding is used for each volume.

Hardcopy volumes are labelled to make them easier to use. Sometimes a reader will simply want to browse a particular section - e.g. a photos section - and to make it easy to do so there should be a tab at the start of every section giving its contents.

Typically a reader of a hardcopy will be looking for a particular page and if the hardcopy is in two or more volumes each volume should have tabs, giving the starting and ending page numbers for that volume, which are always visible whether the volume is open or closed.  If someone else picks up an "official" hardcopy volume at the hearing a user will want to know which volume it is - even if the other person is some distance away - so each volume should have its own colour - e.g. all volume 1s might be blue and all volume 2s yellow. Also a user will want to be able to immediately turn to volume 2, for example, if a witness has just been asked to turn to volume 2, so the volume number of each volume should be visible whether a volume is open or closed. 

Other Bundles

The general idea is that the Final Hearing Bundle should contain all the statements and all the evidential documents which the tribunal will be asked to consider, all in one bookmarked PDF - if a supplementary bundle is needed containing extra statements or extra evidential documents that will not be by design but because documents have inadvertently been missed out of the Final Hearing Bundle.

However, as an exception to the principle (the principle that the Final Hearing Bundle should, by design, be in a single PDF), the tribunal may direct that there should be, in addition, an "official" Core Bundle which is a cut-down version of the Final Hearing Bundle containing selected key documents from the Final Hearing Bundle. If there is no "official" core bundle an individual user might choose to produce their own core bundle for their own use.  

There may be an authorities bundle, containing legal "authorities" such as sections of Acts of Parliament, or cases decided by higher tribunals which set or confirm legal rules ("precedents"). This is separate from the Final Hearing Bundle because the authorities are selected by each party's barrister. (The Final Hearing Bundle is not generally produced by barristers - although each party will often ask their barrister to advise about what it should contain - but by the parties , or by their solicitors if they have solicitors.) There may actually be two authorities bundles, one produced by each barrister.

Another exception is that a tribunal will typically  direct that the barristers representing each party should each produce a "skeleton argument" document and that they should, if possible, agree and produce certain agreed summary documents such as a "chronology". These are generally supplied as separate PDFs rather than being incorporated in a bundle.  

The three stages of eBundle production

The process of producing the eBundle can be conveniently divided into three overall stages:

A. Agreeing with the other side what documents are to be included - this stage involves producing one or more unpaginated drafts of the eBundle.

B. Producing a final draft eBundle with final fixed page numbering imprinted on each page and with exhibited documents identified by having the exhibit marks imprinted at the bottom of the page, in bookmarks, and in the index.

C. Producing the final eBundle complete with all "finishing touches" including statements annotated in the right hand margin with the page number of each document referred to.  

Timetable for agreeing the eBundle with the other side

Using the above three stages as a framework you need to make a plan with the other side and suggest some deadlines for the eBundle production process. The plan may be different depending on whether you will initiate the process by sending a first draft of the eBundle followed by the other side requesting additional documents to be included, or whether the other side is to initiate the process by first sending you a list of documents they require. So the following may need to be agreed:   

1. Date by which the other side need to tell you what documents they require to be included in the eBundle

2. Date by which you will be sending the first draft of the unpaginated eBundle to the other side

3. Date by which you will be sending a final draft of the eBundle. This eBundle will have final fixed page numbers imprinted on each page and exhibited documents will have the exhibit marks imprinted at the bottom of the page, in bookmarks, and in the index. 

4. Date by which you will send the final eBundle, with all "finishing touches" including statements annotated in the right hand margin with the page number of each document referred to, as a single PDF and, if appropriate, also as hardcopy, to the other side and to the tribunal office.

Or, alternatively this may be appropriate:

1. When you will be sending the first draft of the unpaginated eBundle to the other side

2. Date by which the other side need to tell you what additional documents they require to be included in the eBundle

3. Date by which you will be sending a further unpaginated draft eBundle with the above documents included

4. Date by which you will be sending a final draft of the eBundle. This eBundle will have final fixed page numbers imprinted on each page and exhibited documents will have the exhibit marks imprinted at the bottom of the page, in bookmarks, and in the index. 

5.Date by which you will send the final eBundle, with all "finishing touches" including statements annotated in the right hand margin with the page number of each document referred to, as a single PDF and, if appropriate, also as hardcopy, to the other side and to the tribunal office.

Note: Although the above steps refer to providing drafts of the full eBundle - that is a PDF which starts with an Index followed by copies of every document in the index - it is possible that the specific directions given by the tribunal may require an initial draft Index to be provided and to be formally "served" in the way that, for example, documents such as Statements of Case have to be served. Of course providing an initial full draft bundle which includes the index satisfies the requirement to provide a draft index, but if the initial draft index has to be formally served, and if the rules require, for example, formal service to be by first class post, then you will not want to serve in that way a full draft Bundle so, in that case, in order to comply with the tribunal's directions, you can print just the index pages, and formally serve those, at the same time as you send the full draft eBundle by other convenient means such as a download link.     

The rules of the tribunal and/or the specific directions given by a tribunal for the particular case will invariably specify at least the deadline  for the last step but the effective deadlines for some or all of the earlier steps may be left to parties to liaise about, the directions perhaps simply including a general direction that the parties must co-operate in the production of the eBundle. To the extent that the tribunal has not set a deadline for a particular step in the process of producing the eBundle, you, the party directed to be responsible for producing the eBundle, need to plan the deadlines. (If you are the other party, not the eBundle-producing party, see here.) The tribunal expects the parties to co-operate so you should show some flexibility but you need to take the lead in proposing deadlines and not letting matters slide. So, for example, 12 weeks before the date fixed for the final hearing, you could send an email to the other side saying

As the party with primary responsibility for producing the eBundle, I plan to send you a draft eBundle in about 4 weeks time, that is to say by [date], 8 weeks before the final hearing on [date], for your comments/agreement. If you wish you can send me, before then, a list of the documents you wish to be included in the eBundle (which, of course, can only be documents already disclosed) and I should be able to incorporate those in this first draft. Or you can wait to receive the first draft and then tell me what additional documents you wish to be included and I can send a second draft. Due to size I may need to send draft eBundles to you by download link. I would suggest that we set a date of 2 weeks after the first draft - i.e. [date] - for you to get back to me with any request for any further documents to be added (in case you did not tell me before I sent the first draft) and I will then add those documents as promptly as possible - generally within 3 days - and generate a further unpaginated draft and send that to you. Following that - probably within about 3 days - I will send you a final draft eBundle. This eBundle will have final fixed page numbers imprinted on each page and exhibited documents will have the exhibit marks imprinted at the bottom of the page, in bookmarks, and in the index. The deadline for exchange of skeleton arguments is [date] and I would plan to provide you with the eBundle in its final form [together with one hardcopy], not later than two weeks before then - i.e. by [date].   

Using Bundledocs to generate an indexed, bookmarked and paginated PDF when producing  an eBundle

It is generally better to use a document management system specifically designed for litigation, such as Bundledocs, to store documents and generate the indexed, bookmarked, and paginated PDF which will become the eBundle, rather than using general PDF software, though general PDF software may be useful for other kinds of bundle such as an authorities bundle. The following describes how to create the eBundle using Bundledocs. The method explained below, for simplicity, starts with loading every disclosed document to Bundledocs. This is suitable if the number of disclosed documents is in the hundreds or if the vast majority of documents will be included in the eBundle. If instead the number of disclosed documents is in the thousands and most will not be included then a different procedure would need to be used.  

Check Bundledocs options

Make sure the following options are set:

Apply source orientation on upload set to Yes

apply OCR on upload set to Yes. Tick the apply OCR to existing documents box. 

Page Size is A4. 

Set Zoom Level to Inherit (why?).

Show Document Date on Screen set to Yes

Show Cross-reference of Screen set to Yes

Most documents loaded should have a date format of e.g. 22 Jul 2019  but emails and digital photos with have the time as well e.g. 22 Jul 2019 15.25.47 You can use a bundle default option of Display Date Format d MMM yyyy most of the time but when loading emails and digital photos you can either set each individual email or digital photo to d MMM yyyy HH.mm.ss after loading it or, if you have a run of photos to load, you could temporarily set the bundle default to d MMM yyyy HH.mm.ss   

Check orientation

Providing you had set the Apply source orientation on upload option to Yes before you loaded them, images loaded to Bundledocs should stay the right way up. If you have loaded a PDF it will be held in the same orientation as the original which may be suitable but traditionally some reports were produced with drawings and charts at a 90 degree angle, so you should check all pages of documents after loading and adjust as necessary (see video) so that all pages are the right way up.

Add a blank page after the last page of the main index

Create a single page blank Word document and use the Bundle Intro Document option under Generate to load it. In the generated eBundle it will appear immediately following the last page of the main index. This is so that if it should ever be necessary to add any extra documents in a new section at the end (after page numbering has been fixed) a note about this could be added just after the last page of the index (by replacing the blank page with a page with the note) without affecting page numbering.

Check Documents are in Bundledocs

You may well already have documents loaded to Bundledocs if you have used Bundledocs at previous stages of the litigation process. Documents should be loaded into appropriate sections with each document having, within Bundledocs, a concise Document Description and a Date with a Format of, or commencing with, d MMM yyyy The Custom Text field for each disclosed document should contain the appropriate letter - e.g. [A] or [R] - to indicate which party disclosed it. If a document is referred to by disclosure list number in any statement then the Custom Text must include not just the party identifier by also the disclosure list number - e.g. [R42]. In fact it can be useful to include the number for all documents (not just those referred to in statements) but it is only essential to include the number for referred-to documents. But Custom Text for all documents must always contain at least the appropriate letter - e.g. [A] or [R].  

Load all disclosed documents

It is useful to have in Bundledocs, from the outset of the eBundle production process, all the documents which have been exchanged between the parties during the litigation process. Only relevant documents should have been exchanged at any Disclosure of Documents stage so, in a normal case, the majority of documents exchanged (apart from inter-partes correspondence) will need to be in the eBundle.

There may be some documents which do not need to be included - the other side might for some reason have sent a few documents which you think are not relevant and so would only be included in the eBundle if the other side insists. Also if there are multiple photos of the same subject taken on the same occasion then not all of them may be needed even though they are all individually technically relevant. But (inter-partes correspondence apart) it is usually best to load into Bundledocs every document which has been exchanged. There is always the possibility of the other side being inefficient and asking at the last minute in the eBundle production process for extra documents to be included, but if you have already loaded into Bundledocs every document which either side might legitimately want to have included in the eBundle, you will be able to deal with last minute requests easily because:

Note that there are still some courts which have rules (originally introduced before computers and photocopiers existed when all copying had to be done by hand by a copyist which was expensive) which require each party, at the disclosure of documents stage, to provide just a numbered list of documents, and each party is then only required to provide copies of the documents on its list if the other side specifically asks for copies of specific documents (and agrees to pay "reasonable copying costs"!). If the case for which you are producing the eBundle is in one of these courts using such rules you should have asked for copies of all documents on the other side's list at the disclosure of documents stage (except for any items of inter partes correspondence you are sure you already have copies of) because otherwise you run the risk of being taken by surprise by the other side producing, at the eBundle production stage, a copy of a significant document you have not seen before, which was on their list, and demanding that it be included in the eBundle. If, for whatever reason, you did not ask for copies at the disclosure of documents stage you should obtain copies now and load them so that all documents which the other side might legitimately want to have included in the eBundle are in Bundledocs.

Inter partes correspondence 

Some people find it convenient to routinely load inter-partes correspondence (and correspondence to and from the tribunal) to an INTER-PARTES CORRESPONDENCE section in Bundledocs as it arrives or is sent. The vast majority of inter-partes correspondence - even if technically admissible - will be about administrative matters occurring during the litigation process and will not be of any continuing relevance for the final hearing, so the INTER-PARTES CORRESPONDENCE section should be set to Excluded. 

(If any documents within the INTER-PARTES CORRESPONDENCE section are identified as relevant they can, when identified, be copied and the copy moved to the appropriate Included section.  If inter-partes correspondence has not been loaded en masse into a special section you can just load any individual item of inter-partes correspondence if and when it is identifies as relevant.) 

Key Documents

When you loaded a document to Bundledocs, or at any stage thereafter, you might have flagged it as a key document by adding the #CoreBundle tag. This will help you when you come to decide which documents you require to be in the Final Heraing Bundle. The #CoreBundle tag is designed for Core Bundle production (a bundle containing just those documents with the tagged with the #CoreBundle tag can be generated using the Generate with #CoreBundle tags option) but you can also use it - even if you do not intend  to produce a separate Core Bundle - to flag up key documents. You can flag up key documents whenever you think about it to help you when you get to the point of deciding what documents are to be in the Final Hearing Bundle.    

Set statements and referred-to documents to "Included"

Initially you should set the statements of case, witness statements produced for the final hearing, and every document referred to in any statement of case or witness statement, to Included and set all other documents to Excluded.

Exhibits

The Document Description of every document referred to with an exhibit mark e.g. JJS12 should include that exhibit mark at the start, and the exhibit mark should also be in the XREF field.  

(Note that each document exhibited by a witness should be referred to with a separate exhibit mark - which will usually consist of three capital letters followed by one or more digits - e.g. JJS12. If, exceptionally, there is a composite exhibit accompanying a statement, with a single exhibit mark, containing more than one document, then when the Document Description (and XREF) is typed in for the exhibited document it would include the page number of the document within the exhibit - e.g. JJS12p36.)

Generally duplication should be avoided and  the following applies to documents referred to in statements with an exhibit mark:

The above discussion refers to the choice between a labelled exhibited copy and an (unlabelled) copy already loaded in Bundledocs but, of course, there might actually be two unlabelled copies already in Bundledocs (one disclosed by either party) to be taken into account. Except for special cases described above the objective is that there should end up being only one copy of a document Included. 

Whenever, to avoid duplication, a copy of a document is set to Excluded (or a copy of a document is not loaded at all) because another copy of that document in Bundledocs is set to Included, the references appropriate to the copy or copies of the document which is not included must be added to the document which is included. So if, for example, an Included copy has a Document Description commencing with exhibit mark JJS23 and has XREF of JJS23, and there is another copy of that document which is Excluded (or not loaded) and which is exhibited by a statement as HGT31, the Document Description of the included document should then commence with JJS23 HGT31, and should have an XREF of JJS23 =HGT31.  The equals sign used in XREF indicates that JJS23 and HGT31 are copies of the same document but that JJS23 is the copy which is actually Included. Equals signs are not used in Document Description. 

Documents referred to by disclosure number

Some statements might not exhibit documents but simply refer to them by giving the disclosure list number of the document. Usually each side's statement of case contains a numbered list of key documents which that side will rely on (with copies of the documents being provided with the statement of case) and at a later stage a further "disclosure list" of all other relevant documents is provided (with copies) the numbering continuing from the previous list. Any document can then be referred to in a statement as e.g. [R21] for the document 21 disclosed by the Respondent. The Document Description of every document referred to by disclosure list number e.g. [R21], should include that disclosure list number at the start. The disclosure list number should also be in the Custom Text field. 

Generally duplication should be avoided. If, for example, [R21] is the clearest copy then it should be set to Included and will have [R21] in its Document Description and [R21] in its Custom Text. If, however some other copy - e.g. [A8] - is clearer then that should be set to Included instead and the included copy should have [R21] added to its Document Description and [A8] =[R21] should be in its Custom Text.    

Note that the purpose of adding the disclosure list number to the start of the Document Description of every document referred to in any statement is primarily to enable those documents to be quickly found when looking through the index. To ensure that referred-to documents stand out in the index it is important that disclosure list numbers are not routinely added to the Document Description of every document. All documents can have the disclosure list number in Custom Text (it can be useful to keep track of documents) but only the following should have their disclosure list number in Document Description:-

Land Deeds referred to without exhibit mark or disclosure list number

Statements made before the disclosure stage cannot quote a disclosure list number and should generally use exhibit marks but if the document referred to is a land transaction deed (Conveyance, Transfer, Grant, Release, etc.) in most cases it does not need an exhibit mark because such deeds are drawn up in a very specific way and executed with certain formalities, and identifying, in a statement, the type of deed, date, and the names of the parties should be enough to ensure that there is no doubt about the document referred to - e.g. Conveyance dated 14 March 1972 between John Smith and Paula Jones. In this case you should:

Apart from land deeds (and tribunal orders), statements should refer to every document either by exhibit mark or by disclosure list number.  

Add hyperlinks for documents referred to in statements

A hyperlink should be added to the right hand margin opposite every mention in a statement of a document, linking to the document.  How to do this is explained here. Every document mentioned in a statement which is not a land deed should be exhibited or referred to by disclosure list number to make it easy to identify the correct document when creating the hyperlink. Referring , in a statement, to (non-land-deed) documents without exhibit mark or disclosure list number is not good practice but if this is done it may still in some cases be possible to identify the document intended so that a hyperlink can be created. If it is unclear which document is intended then no hyperlink should be added but all documents which could have been intended should be set to Included. 

Audio and Video files

If there are any audio or video files to be played at the final hearing they will be listed in the index of the eBundle PDF but are not actually part of the PDF and will be provided to the tribunal (and other parties) for the hearing as separate files (in their native format e.g. mp3 or mp4). As a double check that recordings are correctly identified the length of the recording, and the disclosure list number, should be included in the Document Description in Bundledocs like this:

[R26] Video of No 18 Garden 23 Nov 2017 - 3min 32s

Identify other documents you will need to be included in the Bundle 

Once you have carried out the process above dealing with all referred-to documents, you can move on to those documents which are not referred to in any statement - i.e. documents which are currently set to Excluded which do not have any exhibit marks or disclosure list numbers at the start of Document Description. For these documents proceed as follows:

The usual rule is that the eBundle, eventually provided to the tribunal, and to both sides, in advance of the final hearing/trial, must contain copies of all documents which the judge will be asked to consider during the hearing (apart from the skeleton argument document which each party's barrister normally provides separately later and any agreed summary documents which the tribunal has directed to be supplied separately). Some people think that they can bring along to the hearing and use copies of additional documentary evidence as well but in general  tribunals do not allow this. All copies of documentary evidence to be referred to by either side at the hearing must be in the eBundle. The tribunal directions might require each party to bring along original paper documents as well in case they need to be checked but you can't generally rely on an original document if a copy is not in the eBundle. If a party discovers at the last minute that something has been accidentally missed out of the eBundle then the tribunal might give special permission to use it but equally it might refuse or there might be a costs penalty so as well as asking the other side what further documents they wish to be included now is a good time to double-check that every piece of evidence you want to be available for the judge to look at is set to Included so that it will appear in the final eBundle. 

How to produce and send out, the initial unpaginated draft eBundle

If the other side have already given you a list of  documents they wish to be included

Ideally the other side will have provided you with a clear list of the documents they wish to have included. For example they might send you a copy of the list of documents they previously sent at the disclosure of documents stage with the documents they now require to be included in the eBundle marked, and possibly a list of the documents you disclosed to them with some documents marked on that as well. Many of the documents they wish to be included will already be set to Included but for any which are not you can now set one copy to Included. When including the requested documents you don't necessarily have to use the copy the other side has marked. For example if the other side has marked document e.g. [R32] and there is another copy e.g. [A21] of the document which is clearer you would include that instead.  

Instead of marking on a list the other side might send you copies of the documents they wish to be included. Usually it is best not to load up those copies but simply to use them to identify which documents you already have in Bundledocs which you should then set to Included. If a copy of any of the documents is not already present in Bundledocs that means, on the face of it, that the document the other side wish to now include was not previously sent by them to you as part of the litigation process (nor sent by you or the tribunal to them) and so they are not entitled to have it included in the eBundle but, before you get back to them saying this, double check your records to make sure that you have not made a mistake (e.g. by omitting to load to Bundledocs a copy of document which was in fact disclosed). Generally a party is only entitled to have a document included if they disclosed it as directed by the tribunal. Otherwise they need special permission from the tribunal. (Sometimes the tribunal's directions provide that extra documents can be included without permission provided both sides agree.)

The reason why there is generally no advantage in loading up the documents you have received (rather than simply using them to identify documents already loaded to be set to Included) is that if you load them up you need to set the Custom Text of each one which takes time and you still need to check that a copy of each one is already in Bundledocs (as a check that the document was previously disclosed). Exceptionally if one of the documents newly provided is clearer than the copy already in Bundledocs then it would be worth loading.   

Instead of referring to specific documents on a disclosure list (or sending copies) the other side might be a little more vague - e.g. perhaps saying that they want "all documents  connected with the following issue..." Often the easiest thing to do in these circumstances is to set "Included" for the documents you think they are referring to and, when you send the first draft to them, ask them to confirm that everything they want to be included now is. 

Before including documents requested by the other side double check if the other side wants to include what appear to be irrelevant documents. Providing a document was previously sent between the parties during the litigation process in accordance with deadlines set by the tribunal, and providing it is not subject to legal privilege, you cannot generally refuse to include it, if the other side insists it should be included, even if you consider the document irrelevant to the issues to be decided at the hearing, But if there are a large number of apparently irrelevant documents which the other side asks to be included it is worth querying with them (in writing) why they think they are relevant because large numbers of unnecessary documents can waste the tribunal's time. To some extent the judge will rely on the barristers at the hearing to refer to individual documents as the hearing proceeds but, in addition, the judge will read at least some documents in advance, and/or during adjournments, and if there are a large number of unnecessary documents, time is wasted. So it is worth querying with the other side (in writing) why they think the documents are relevant. Your query may prompt them to reconsider. If they continue to insist on the documents being included (and you have no reason to object other than irrelevance) then generally they should be, but you should create a further section in Bundledocs named Selected Correspondence re eBundle Production and load to it a copy of the correspondence. Then if the judge, at the hearing, makes a criticism of the fact that a large number of irrelevant documents have been included in the eBundle, and requires to know which party was responsible so that an appropriate sanction (such as perhaps an adverse costs order) can be made, it will be possible to show from the correspondence that they were only included at the insistence of the other party. You should not wait too long for a reply after you have queried whether documents requested are really needed: you need to keep to the timetable you have set. If you do not get a quick reply, you can include the documents for the moment and carry on. Including the documents is not difficult to do - as the documents will already be in Bundledocs and it is just a matter of setting them to Included - and if the other side eventually say that some are not needed you can then set them to Excluded.   

A party may also legitimately object to the inclusion of a document sent between the parties which is subject to "without prejudice" privilege. It is unlikely that there will be a dispute about the principle that "without prejudice" documents should not be included but there might be a dispute about whether a particular document really is "without prejudice" or not, the presence or absence of the actual words "without prejudice" on the document not necessarily being conclusive. 

If the other side  have not yet given you a list of the documents they wish to be included

You may have agreed with the other side (or the tribunal may have directed) that you will start the process off by sending an initial draft. Or it may be that the other side are supposed to send you a list of the documents they require to be included but they have not done that by the deadline so you have to take the initiative. If, for whatever reason, when you send the first unpaginated draft eBundle, the other side has not already told you the documents they require to be included, you can, when sending the draft unpaginated eBundle, invite the other party to specify what further documents they require to also be included which can then also be set to Included when the next draft is produced (after you have checked whether they are entitled to have them included, of course, and double-checked if any seem irrelevant  - see above).

How to generate and send out the unpaginated draft eBundle

Use the standard Generate options with the following additional options 

Remove Global Title Page 

untick Number Global Index Pages

Remove Section Index Pages

The Apply Water Mark box should be ticked and Draft selected

Suppress Page Numbering on Documents

Suppress Page Column on Index Pages 

Ensure that the page number does not appear in bookmarks by omitting @PageStart. So specify Bookmark Description Source (Document) of Source Code and enter a Bookmark Description Source Code (Document) of @Description (@Date) 

(The reason for not having page numbering in the initial draft is that the page numbering will not be fixed while drafts are being produced and documents are being added, and it is important that the other side do not rely on page numbers which will later change. There is a risk that any page numbers imprinted on pages or included in the index could be mistakenly taken to be final and fixed.)

Download the draft eBundle PDF when generated. Do not grant the other side direct access to the "bundle" within Bundledocs. Instead, you need to send them the draft eBundle PDF. Before you send the downloaded PDF rename it to include the word DRAFT in the filename.

The directions given by the tribunal will probably state that the final eBundle is to be sent to the other parties "in such manner as may be agreed with the parties" or words to that effect. So you need to agree with the other side exactly, how the full draft eBundle PDF, and subsequent drafts and eventually the final eBundle, is to be sent to them. 

Bundledocs provides the ability to send, by email, a download link to a specific generated PDF held within it but, later on in the eBundle production process, you will be renaming the PDF downloaded from Bundledocs to whatever is the correct name for the eBundle so that you cannot then use the Bundledocs facility to send a download link and must use some other method. So it is probably easier to use some other method from the outset and not use the Bundledocs email download link facility.

Whilst documents in an eBundle may not actually be counted as being in the public domain (unless and until they are referred to at the public hearing) usually the documents you are contributing to the eBundle will not actually be sensitive or confidential and if the other side when, earlier on, they provided copies of their documents to you, used ordinary email, then it may be that they also do not require any highly secure system to be used to send the draft and final eBundle either, so it may be that the other side will agree that it is reasonable to use an ordinary web-based file transfer system to send drafts and the final eBundle. If required you can agree to encrypt the PDF before you send it. Usually web-based file transfer systems allow you to load a PDF and they then provide a download link which you can paste into an email you compose and send.  

Further draft eBundles

Even if you are sending out a draft unpaginated eBundle after the other side have provided you with a clear list of documents they wish to be included, it is good practice to wait for any comments on that draft before sending  the final paginated draft. And even if there are no comments you may still need to send a further unpaginated draft if you need to add "reference" documents to avoid duplication.

Adding reference documents affects page numbering  so you need to consider, before sending the final draft with fixed page numbering,whether any reference documents need to be added to Bundledocs to avoid excessive duplication. You can consider the question of whether reference documents are needed at any stage before page numbering is fixed but if you consider it early on before all the documents required by the other side are included you will need to consider it again in case the additional documents affect the assessment of whether reference documents are desirable.  

So there may be two or three unpaginated draft eBundles sent before you are ready to produce the final paginated draft. 

If the other side miss the deadline to notify you of documents to include in the eBundle

If you plan ahead and make contact with the other side in good time, the process of agreeing what should be in the eBundle will hopefully run smoothly, but if the other side, despite reminders, fail to tell you which documents they wish to see included you may be faced with a dilemma. You do not want to wait forever and risk not allowing yourself sufficient time to produce and deliver copies of the final eBundle (and any hardcopies) on time but, on the other hand, you do not want to be criticised by the tribunal, later on, for showing insufficient flexibility resulting in inconvenience at the hearing if the other side ends up having to produce and distribute its own supplementary eBundle containing documents you have omitted from the main eBundle.  

If you end up in the situation where the other side never tell you what evidential documents they wish to see included, you may be able to identify some additional documents which they will obviously require from the arguments they are advancing in their statement of case. The tribunal may have directed that the statement of case must include a list of documents available to the party which are important for the party's case and/or which are necessary for the tribunal and the other party to properly understand the party's case. If so then those documents, as "referred-to" documents, will have already been set to Included anyway, but if the tribunal did not direct such documents to be listed in the statement of case you may be able to work out what documents they are and set them to Included now. As always you should write to the other side explaining what you are doing and why - e.g.    

On [date] I wrote to you proposing timescales for the process of producing the eBundle, and we agreed that by [date] you would tell me what [further] documents you wished to be included. You have failed to respond despite my following up on [date] and [date] and, given the shortness of time, I must now proceed to finalise which documents will be in the eBundle and I have added documents which I think you are likely to wish to rely on. That is the best I can do in the circumstances. Please see the  final draft index attached to this email. The full final draft eBundle can be downloaded using this link...

Once you get to this point - where you are having to make less than ideal choices because of the other side's failure to engage - you should, before generating the final unpaginated draft eBundle, create a further section in Bundledocs named Selected Correspondence re eBundle Production and load to it a copy of your initial communication (in which you first proposed a timetable) and a copy of your follow up communications showing the steps leading up to the point where you had to make less than ideal decisions and beyond. If there are a lot of communications relating to eBundle production you would not normally include them all: you should not normally need a blow-by-blow trail of every detail, but you should include sufficient to demonstrate that you gave the other side ample opportunity to co-operate but that they failed to "play ball" and that your eventual decision to proceed to finalise the eBundle was reasonable. To complete the picture you should include copies of the orders/directions given by the tribunal relating to eBundle production (if they are not already included elsewhere).

Send a final draft eBundle, containing fixed page numbers

Once the complete set of documents to be included in the eBundle has been identified and set to Included in Bundledocs before the deadline, or if you get to the deadline and the other side have, despite reminders, not confirmed what documents then want to be included (which means that you will have had to do your best at working out what documents they are likely to need, and any further documents which may turn out to be needed will have to either be added to the existing eBundle in a new section at the end - if there is time and there are not too many of them - or else put in a supplementary eBundle), then it is time to  produce a draft eBundle with fixed final page numbers.

Generate so that the final page numbering can be seen

If Bundledocs contains any "reference documents" (see above) you must use a custom index because otherwise the page numbers shown for reference documents in the index will be incorrect. A custom index should have Document Description, Date, and Page number, columns on index pages. If you do not have any reference documents then you only need to use a custom index if you want to use a different format from the standard index.

Generate using the standard Generate options. Ensure that the following standard Generate options, in particular, are set (since previous steps may have set these options differently):

Make sure Apply Water Mark is NOT ticked.

Make sure Remove Global Title Page is NOT ticked

Make sure Number Index Pages Separately is NOT ticked

Make sure Suppress Page Numbering on Documents is NOT ticked 

Make sure Suppress Page Column on Index Pages is NOT ticked

Number Global Title Page

Number Global Index Pages

Make sure Remove Section Index Pages is NOT ticked

Number Section Index and Title Pages

Bookmark Description Source (Document) should be set to Source Code with a Bookmark Description Source Code (Document) of p.@PageStart  @Description (@Date)

Replace the Title Page and regenerate

The cover of a volume of a hardcopy conventionally is a page containing the name and number of the case in the top half of the page and, below that, in tramlines, the title of the eBundle and date of the hearing it will be used in. The function of the cover of a hardcopy volume is (like the cover of any book), to enable the volume to be easily identified if, for example, if it is on a table with many other volumes. Such considerations do not apply to the eBundle PDF itself (it is identified by filename) but the eBundle nevertheless needs to have a Title Page as the first page in the PDF matching the cover of the hardcopy (although it is not quite an exact match because each volume of the hardcopy will have the volume number in large type included in its Title Page). 

Type up the Title Page for the eBundle as a single-page Word document with the name and number of the case and, below that, the title - e.g. FINAL HEARING BUNDLE - within tramlines. Below the tramlines there should be instructions for printing a hardcopy specifying any pages which need special printing. This is explained further below.

The size and orientation of pages in the PDF produced by Bundledocs is designed with users viewing them on a computer in mind. Most users will have a screen less than A3 size so A3 documents appear with an A4 page size to make scrolling easy: when scrolling through pages it is considered better to initially present the whole page reduced to A4 size (which can then be zoomed as required) rather than present only part of the page. This means that when a hardcopy is printed it is not simply a matter of printing all pages A4 with auto-rotate but certain pages require special printing such as:-

To create a list of pages to be printed on A3 in landscape, download the generated PDF and open it with Acrobat Reader and open the thumbnails panel. Hold down CTRL and scroll down the pages looking at each landscape page and tap on the corresponding thumbnail if the page should be printed on A3.  This is likely to be pages with maps or drawings, When done tap the printer symbol. You don't need to actually print the A3 pages (unless you need to to be sure A3 rather than, say, A2, is sufficient) but you will see a comma-separate list of pages in the Pages box of the Print panel. Select and copy the comma-separated list and paste it below the tramlines in the Word title document following the words When printing a hardcopy print the following pages on A3 paper in landscape (specifying "fit to printer margins") ...

To create a list of pages to be printed in A5 landscape size on A4 paper in portrait, open the PDF with Acrobat Reader and open the thumbnails panel. Hold down CTRL and scroll down the pages looking at each landscape page and tap on the corresponding thumbnail if the page is a photo which should be printed be printed in A5 landscape size on A4 paper in portrait. When done tap the printer symbol. You don't need to actually print the pages (unless you need to to be sure that they can clearly be seen printed in A5 size) but you will see a comma-separate list of pages in the Pages box of the Print panel. Select and copy the comma-separated list and paste it below the tramlines in the Word title document following the words When printing a hardcopy print the following pages in A5 landscape size on A4 paper in portrait (specifying "portrait", "fit to printer margins", "auto-centre page on paper" and not specifying "auto-rotate page on paper")... 

When complete load the title page Word document to Bundledocs by tapping Choose Title Page to Upload in the Generate options. The generate again.

OCR

Even though the apply OCR on upload option has been set, it is good practice to now do a global OCR just in case any page is, for any reason, not yet properly OCRed. Tap the Download and Distribute button and, In the Download and Distribute panel, tap the OCR button. Depending on the size of the eBundle the OCR process can take a few hours. You can tell that the OCR process is still running because if you hovver over the OCR button a red "no entry" circle appears. When OCR is complete the entry in the choose a bundle receipt drop-down list will contain the letters (OCR). When the OCRed version appears in the drop-down list, you should download it to your computer by tapping the Download button (just below the drop-down list).

Rename the PDF to include the words FINAL DRAFT.  

Remove any duplicate date strings in bookmarks to improve readability as explained here.

If for any reason you did not add hyperlinks for documents referred to in statements manually (using Preview at the earlier Add hyperlinks for documents referred to in statements stage) you should, as a second-best alternative, at least automatically generate hyperlinks as described here. This is second best because it does not work for documents referred to in statements in a way which does not exactly match the string used in Document Description/XREF/Custom Text (such as multiple-document exhibits) because it can only link to the first page of each referred-to document, and because it does not facilitate the addition of page number references in the margin.   

Send the final draft paginated eBundle to the other side 

Send the final draft paginated eBundle by whatever file transfer system has been agreed and invite them to confirm that the hyperlinks in all of their statements are correct:- 

I have created the final draft of the eBundle with final fixed page numbers and with documents exhibited in statements identified with the exhibit marks at the bottom of the page (and in bookmarks, in the index, and hyperlinked in statements which refer to them) so that you can check that the documents referred to in your statements by exhibit mark are correctly identified. I would propose to send to you the final eBundle with target page numbers imprinted next to hyperlinks in statements by [date]. 

Core Bundle

If the tribunal has directed that there should be a Core Bundle, which documents are included in it should, if possible, be agreed with the other side. 

Once it has been decided which documents to include they should have the #CoreBundle tag added to them. You can then upload a replacement Title Page for the Core Bundle by tapping Choose Title Page to Upload in the Generate options and generate the eBundle again specifying the  Generate with page labels, Remove Section Index Pages and Generate with #CoreBundle tags  then OCR and download and send to the other side as a draft Core Bundle. 

If the other side make a late request for further documents to be added

It is possible that when checking the draft the other side might discover they they have omitted to ask for certain documents to be included and may make a request for a few extra documents to be included in the eBundle. If there is no reason to object - other than the lateness of the request - then you can add them to the eBundle by simply setting the extra documents to Included and regenerating, OCRing, and downloading the eBundle. (You will need to redo hyperlinking if you used the "second-best" hyperlinking method referred to above).  

Finalising the eBundle

Adding page numbers to statement hyperlinks

Assuming that you did add hyperlinks for documents referred to in statements manually (using Preview at the earlier Add hyperlinks for documents referred to in statements stage) you should now add page number references. It is of assistance to anyone using a hardcopy of the eBundle for the page number of each document referred to in a statement to appear in the right hand margin of the statement (with hyperlink) for each mentioned document. The directions given by the tribunal may require this to be done but it is good practice in any event. Annotation must be done in such as way (e.g. say, p.65 in red edged box) that it is clear that the page number in the margin was not part of the statement when it was signed but has been added later when the eBundle was being prepared simply to assist in navigation of the eBundle. 

Use the eBundle to look up the page number of each document referred to in a statement (in the eBundle the bookmark for the statement will have sub-bookmarks for each page of the statement and for each page bookmark there will be sub-bookmarks giving the page number of each document referred to) and replace >>> in the Label content box of each hyperlink label (which you added earlier using Preview at the Add hyperlinks for documents referred to in statements stage) with the page number. Then regenerate, OCR, and download the eBundle.  (If there is a Core Bundle so that the Title Page loaded is currently a Core Bundle title page,  regenerate, OCR and download the Core Bundle first and then reload the original Title Page before regenerating the main eBundle again.)

If the other side make a late request for further documents to be added

It is possible that whilst you are in the process of adding page number references to statement hyperlinks, it might occur to the other side that some other document has been missed out and they might ask, even at this late stage, for it to be included in the eBundle. If there is no reason to object - other than the lateness of the request - then you can add the document or documents to the eBundle as follows:

Allocating sections to hardcopy volumes  

Decide which sections will be in which volume in the hardcopy and add that information to the foot of each page as explained here.

Also remove any duplicate date strings in bookmarks to improve readability as explained here.

Naming the eBundle

The eBundle should be renamed, removing the word DRAFT, to a suitable filename. The particular court or other tribunal may have rules or preferences about the filename to be used for eBundles which are to be sent to it.  In the absence of any specific rule, if you will be sending the eBundle to the tribunal as an email attachment then it should be renamed to a filename which starts with the name of the party submitting it, and includes the word eBundle, the name of the case, the number of the case, and the date of the hearing at which it will be used.

Smith - eBundle - Smith v Jones REF-2023-1234 hearing 11 Oct 2023.pdf

Some tribunals have a document upload system. If you will be providing the eBundle to the tribunal using a document upload system which requires the case number to be entered in a field on the upload screen, it is usually unnecessary to include the case name and number in the filename as well.

  Smith - eBundle - hearing 11 Oct 2023.pdf

Providing the eBundle to the other side 

When the eBundle is complete you then need to provide copies of the eBundle to your barrister, and to the other side, using the agreed file transfer system.

If there is a Core Bundle you should send a PDF copy of that also. You may need to provide hardcopies also either of the Core Bundle alone or of the Core Bundle and main Final Hearing Bundle.

Providing the eBundle to the tribunal office

Most tribunals have a document uploading facility which can be accessed on the web. Depending on the tribunal use of its document upload system may be compulsory or it may simply be an option available to be used for eBundles which are too large to send as email attachments. If there is a Core Bundle that should be sent as well. 

If the eBundle contains placeholders for any video or audio files, the video/audio files themselves (e.g. the mp3 or mp4 files) should be  provided to the tribunal at the same time as the eBundle PDF. Some tribunals allow video and audio files to be uploaded while others may ask for them to be sent by post on a memory stick. See video here for how to download a file from Bundledocs so that it can be provided. if the downloaded a video/audio file is named e.g. [A21] Video of No 18 Garden 23 Nov 2017 - 3min 32s the details of the case should be added to its filename so that it uses a similar format to the eBundle filename e.g. Smith - Smith v Jones REF-2023-1234 - [A21] Video of No 18 Garden 23 Nov 2017 - 3min 32s before it is provided to the tribunal.

The tribunal may have directed you to provide agreed summary documents, and possibly hardcopies, at the same time.

What to do if you discover, after sending out copies of the eBundle, that you have missed a document or documents out

It is important to make sure, so far as you are able, that the eBundle is complete before you send it out so that this situation does not arise. If, after the eBundle has been sent out, it were to become apparent that an important document or documents had been missed out, you would need to create a supplementary eBundle, containing just the extra documents, to be used alongside the original eBundle. Having a main eBundle containing most documents and some further documents in a supplementary eBundle is not ideal. If all documents are in the main eBundle then they can be arranged in the best logical (e.g. usually chronological) sequence whereas if some documents are in a supplementary eBundle those documents are being provided outside the most useful sequence. So you should make sure, as far as you can, that the eBundle is complete before you send it out. 

If you do end up needing to provide further documents you cannot just create a replacement eBundle containing the extra documents inserted in the appropriate chronological positions within the eBundle.  This is because you do not know to what extent each recipient of the original eBundle may have already started to use it by, for example, adding their own extra bookmarks and comments to their copy of the eBundle. Even if they have not actually added bookmarks or comments they may have made external notes which refer to page numbers so that a replacement eBundle with documents having different page numbers (because new documents have been inserted part way through) would cause confusion and/or extra work. Also each party's barrister may have produced a skeleton argument or other similar documents referencing eBundle page numbers.

So you should create a supplementary eBundle and not attempt to create a replacement. Permission from the tribunal may be required for the supplementary eBundle to be admitted as evidence.

Smith - Applicant's Supplementary eBundle - Smith v Jones REF-2023-1234 hearing 11 Oct 2023.pdf

If the other side realise that a document which they regard as important has been missed out they might create a supplementary eBundle ("Respondent's Supplementary eBundle" if they are the Respondent). Because of the requirement for permission (and the possibility of the other side objecting) generally it is the party which wishes extra documents to be admitted which produces a Supplementary eBundle and then seeks permission.       

Jones - Respondent's Supplementary eBundle - Smith v Jones REF-2023-1234 hearing 11 Oct 2023.pdf

If permission is given for the use of a supplementary eBundle a hardcopy will, of course, be required, at least for the use of witnesses. 

Disclaimer

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 2024          Disclaimer