Court bundles, although perhaps not the most titillating of topics, are a key component in litigation. If made properly, and available in good time, a bundle has the potential to imbue a Judge with confidence that you have considered and prepared your case with competence. Once the trial is over and all the submissions have been made, your bundle remains with the Judge as he/she considers their Judgment. If the Court fails to be impressed with your bundle, there is the potential for censure, the making of adverse costs orders against you, or your firm being named and shamed.
The purpose of a court bundle is to provide the Judge and the parties with relevant material to be referred to during the course of a hearing to enable it to proceed expeditiously and efficiently.
Practice Direction 39A of the Civil Procedure Rules provides the Court’s guidelines as to the content, format and presentation of the bundle. The Courts have been strict on practitioners who fail to comply with the demands of the CPR when it comes to their bundles. In the case of Iliffe and Another v Feltham Construction Ltd and Others [2015]BLR 544, Lord Justice Jackson stated that “the appeal bundle should be an aid to the Court, not an obstacle course… In the present case, as I indicated during argument, whatever the outcome of the appeal no party will be entitled to recover any costs referable to the preparation of the bundle”.
Often it is unavoidable that the process of bundle preparation is fast-paced, neck-breaking stuff and you are working to a tight deadline. Under these circumstances, even with the best will in the world, it is easy to make small errors. Unfortunately, the Courts are rarely sympathetic to this plight and they require that bundles are prepared with precision, accuracy and simplicity. The devil is often in the detail.
The Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Sedley of the Court of Appeal penned some helpful, somewhat tongue in cheek, guidelines which ought to be borne in mind whenever one is faced with the joyous task of preparing a bundle:
“First Law: Documents may be assembled in any order, provided it is not chronological, numerical or alphabetical.
Second Law: Documents shall in no circumstances be paginated continuously.
Third Law: No two copies of any bundle shall have the same pagination.
Fourth Law: Every document shall carry at least three numbers in different places.
Fifth Law: Any important documents shall be omitted.
Sixth Law: At least 10 percent of the documents shall appear more than once in the bundle.
Seventh Law: As many photocopies as practicable shall be illegible, truncated or cropped.
Eighth Law: