Court Bundles Warning

In Re H (a Minor) (Court Bundles: Disallowance of Fees) (FD WLR 6 June)

There appeared to be a belief in some quarters that the Practice Direction (Family Proceedings: Court Bundles) of 10 March (19/LL p59) did not apply to cases which were estimated to last half a day or less. It should be patently obvious to any competent advocate that the shorter the appointment or hearing the more important it was that the documentation should be in good order and presented in a way in which it could be speedily understood and assimilated by the court. It was wholly unacceptable to expect the judge to find out what any application was about by reference to the court file. The present case was a ‘further hearing’ which came into court with no bundle, no summary of the background, and no statement of the issues to be determined nor of the relief being sought by any of the parties, none of whom had put in any evidence. The consequence was that directions which should have been despatched in 20 minutes took more than an hour and a half.