A High Court judge has given guidance to lawyers about how to prepare for remote hearings doing the coronavirus pandemic — telling them to stick to the “essentials” when preparing e-bundles.
His Honour Judge Hodge QC sitting (virtually) at the business and property courts in Manchester made his observations in a judgment in an insolvency case that he handed down earlier this week.
In short, he said that solicitors should engage their courtroom advocates as early as possible, and ask them to help make bundles as short as they can.
Judges in Manchester, he said, have already given guidance that, during the pandemic period “unless otherwise proposed or directed, electronic bundles should contain only the documents which are essential for the hearing”.
“The word ‘essential’ was chosen advisedly,” he said, “to relieve the burden cast, not only upon the judges of assimilating material in often user-unfriendly electronic bundles, but also upon the legal professionals, and any support staff, responsible for compiling the electronic bundles, by reducing the volume and scope of the documentation to be included within them.”
In the case he was ruling on, an unopposed hearing listed for 30 minutes, he said he was sent a ‘core’ PDF bundle of 105 pages with no searchable contents tab or sequential page numbering.
This was difficult to navigate, contained too much information, and should have been shorter.
In future, he said, solicitors should “engage the advocate who will be conducting the hearing at an early stage”.
If that is done, the advocate will be able to say what documents are essential, so all else can be excluded.
“Secondly, provide a searchable index to the bundle if this is possible; but, if it is not, ensure that all the pages of the bundle (including any index and divider pages) are individually, and sequentially, paginated so that it can be readily searchable by scrolling down the file.”
In the Matter of TPS Investments (Uk) Limited (In Administration) and in the Matter of the Insolvency Act 1986, Mark Grahame Tailby
High Court, Business and Property Courts in Manchester Insolvency and Companies List (His Honour Judge Hodge QC) 11 May 2020
