MR JUSTICE MOSTYN
MR JUSTICE PEEL
HIS HONOUR JUDGE HESS
FRC ADVISORY NOTICE
The use of electronic bundles in the Financial Remedies Court in the last two years has moved from being fairly rare to almost universal. This is an excellent outcome for a number of reasons and we are keen that our procedures should support the continuation of this development.
It has been drawn to our attention that for litigants-in-person (‘LIPS’), the guidance on electronic bundle preparation[1] requires a modest degree of clarification.
Therefore, for clarity, we explain:
(i) The obligation to produce forms ES1 and ES2 applies as much to LIPS as it does to represented parties.
(ii) If one party alone has a solicitor then, absent an agreement or order to the contrary, it will be for that solicitor (and not the LIP) to prepare the electronic bundle.
(iii) If both parties are LIPS then there is still a requirement for an electronic bundle in PDF form to be created and, ordinarily, it will be the applicant who is responsible for preparing the electronic bundle.
(iv) We recognise that there may be circumstances when the applicant LIP simply has insufficient IT ability to prepare the bundle. If this happens then that person should contact the court and explain the difficulty as far as possible in advance of the relevant court hearing. Where possible that person should suggest a practical way of overcoming the problem, which may be that the respondent should be invited to prepare the bundle. A respondent in this situation is encouraged to offer assistance where possible.
(v) Where neither party has sufficient IT ability to prepare a bundle then the court will have to do its best to find a solution which overcomes the problem.
[1] in FPR 2010 PD27A, the Statement of Efficient Conduct of 11 January 2022, the President’s Guidance on E-Bundles of 21 December 2021 and the General Guidance on Electronic Bundles of 29 November 2021
