Lex Technicae

FAQ - Document Preparation

  1. Must I sort my authorities before sending them to you?

  2. Can you obtain case law/legal authorities for me?

  3. Must I sort my documents for a record of appeal before sending them to you?

  4. Must I sort my documents for a trial bundle before sending them to you?

  5. What do descriptive filenames mean?

  6. What about classifications for trial bundles?

  7. What if I give my documents as they are, without proper descriptions?

  8. After a document is transferred, when will you begin processing my documents?

  9. What happens after I receive my bundle?

Bundle of Authorities

  1. Must I sort my authorities before sending them to you?

    No. For your bundle of authorities, we can generate your indexes for you.

    Unless you want your authorities sorted a custom way, we will sort your authorities logically:

    1. Statutes will be listed first.

    2. Court decisions will be listed second (by court hierarchy, date, and jurisdiction).

    3. Secondary and third-party references (such as to books, dictionaries, and so on) will be listed third and after.

    The sorting method above is convenient, recognises the persuasive value of legal materials, and makes referencing easy in light of digital bookmarks.

    If you wish to specify a different and custom sorting method (e.g. that they must follow the order presented in your legal submissions), do request this specifically.

  2. Can you obtain case law/legal authorities for me?

    For now, no. You must provide all case law/journals, statutes or references that you intend to use. This avoids issues with copyright and/or breach of proprietary rights.

Records of Appeal

  1. Must I sort my documents for a record of appeal before sending them to you?

    No. The bundle/record will be built as per practice directions, and from the contents of the proceeding’s filed cause papers:

    1. For interlocutory appeals, the bundle will be built according to the earlier cause papers/affidavits.

    2. For post-trial appeals, the bundle follows the logical order of the earlier trial documents, and will include all necessaries (the bundle of pleadings, witness statements, and so on) and all items produced/admitted into evidence as you provide to us.

    Interlocutory appeal records can be built fast and easily. Send us your earlier filed documents; in most circumstances, we can directly process them without issue.

    If we find issues, or cannot proceed with processing immediately, we will query you.

Trial Bundles - Document Filenames

  1. Must I sort my documents for a trial bundle before sending them to you?

    For trial bundles, yes, to a certain extent.

    They don’t have to be sorted per se, but they must be descriptively named, to improve the speed of our processing.

  2. How should I name the trial documents I send to you?

    Filenames should be descriptive. Some samples of descriptive filenames:

    1. 20.02.1993 - MEMO - To Brother Frank

    1. 02.12.1994 - LETTER - 1 - From Sister Samantha

    1. 03.12.1994 - LETTER - 2 - From Sister Mary

  3. What do descriptive filenames mean?

    As above, a ‘descriptive’ filename contains at least three things:

    1. A date.

      1. All court disputes revolve around dates and events.

      2. The best date formats are DD-MM-YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD.

      3. We cannot arbitrarily date your documents, more so those old documents that are illegible or undated. For such documents, you must provide a date, or clarify how they should be dated.

    2. A document type - e.g. A letter, memo, circular, register of members, company search, deed, and so on. A document type is not material, but helps if you’d like us to sort/categorize your documents for you at a later stage. Our categorical description of an item may differ from yours, so we require that you provide yours.

    3. A document description - This goes to the content of a document. For example, a bundle may enclose 5 different directors’ circular on the same date. If so, your description/filename should distinguish the purpose of the circular (ratification of shareholdings, declaration of dividends, etc). We can superficially describe the documents for you, but given the subjective contents of many documents, we may offer a different description than what you have in mind.

  4. What about classifications for trial bundles?

    In addition to the above, you must indicate whether a document falls under Part A, B or C. Classification is material, as:

    1. O. 34, r. 2 (2) (e) of the Rules of Court 2012 requires it.

    2. To be processed, we need to know your/your opponent’s classifications. Some documents may not form part of the common bundle, if objected to or until admitted.

    3. We do not know your designated classifications. If not in the filenames, then the classifications can be separately specified in your email to us.

  5. What if I give my documents as they are, without proper descriptions?

    We can process such documents. But they will have to be manually reviewed as they are processed. This significantly increases turnaround times and costs. Further:

    1. We will quote and impose an additional and significant bundling fee, as will have to be paid upfront.

    2. We will revert to default and logical sorting methods.

Commencement of Processing

  1. After a document is transferred, when will you begin processing my documents?

    We commence processing of documents once we have confirmed instructions with you/your representative solicitor, and after receipt of full payment.

  2. What happens after I receive my bundle?

    Verification. You/your representative solicitor must verify the processed bundles to ensure that they meet your requirements.

    We always check all processed bundles for issues and try our best to comply with your requirements. So if there are problems, do not hesitate to notify us - we will amend all bundles at no cost until they meet your requirements.

    If/once the bundles are acceptable to you, sign off and accept the bundles. Once you deem them proper, they are ready to be filed.

    (Take note we will not be held responsible if you/your representative solicitor proceeds to immediately file processed bundles without verification, and without signing off on receipt first.)

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