Brief Preparation Guide
The below describes how I would like my briefs to be prepared.
I am not so precious that if receive a brief that does not conform to the below formatting that it will be a problem. This information just describes my preferences.
Upload Brief
To send me a new brief please click the button to the right to upload the file.
Example Brief
This is an example PDF of how I would like my electronic briefs to be prepared.
Brief Content
The below describes the material that I would like included in my brief.
Observations
If you have time, is very helpful if you can include a summary of the case is about and what you expect me to do. At the very lease it would be good if you could tell me what the current orders in the case are, or important orders that were made previous. Please do not just recite the pleadings.
Current Pleadings
Include only the most recent set of pleadings. For example, if there is an Amended Statement of Claim, please do not include the prior Statement of Claim. You may include a previous version of a pleading if you wish to draw my attention to something important (e.g. the amendments on the new document to do properly show what has been amended)
Evidence
Affidavits, witness statements, evidentiary statements should go in this section. Even ‘draft’ evidence documents (like incident reports) or unsettled witness statements should be in this section.
Motions / Court Documents
Please do not include every single document relating to the proceedings as "court documents." If there is a particular interlocutory event that you want me to look at please include all the material relating to that motion (e.g. the motion and all supporting affidavits). If there has been a previous motion in the case that has been disposed of, I don't need all the documents relating to that motion. Just mention what happened in the observations.
Subpoena Material
If you want me to look at some subpoenaed material, please exercise some judgment in only including the relevant documents. Please do not include all the documents produced under every subpoena unless it is necessary. Sometimes it is more useful to mention the subpoenas in your observations (e.g. "On 1 April a subpoena was issued on XXX. No documents have been produced as yet).
Important Correspondence
Please only include the importance correspondence in the case. It would be very helpful if you could avoid repeating e-mail chains (i.e. when you print e-mails that contain the previous message). There is no harm in copying the contents of each email you want to send me and pasting them into a Word document that is sorted chronologically.
Offers
Please make sure that you include all the offers made in the case in a separate section.
Electronic Briefs
I would be grateful if you could prepare my electronic briefs in the way described below.
Corresponding Page Numbers
Page numbers in the bottom right using a large font (preferably in red). The below guide explains how to page the page numbers correspond to the PDF page numbers.
Single PDF
I would prefer it of you could send me a single PDF file, rather than a brief split over multiple files (such as email files). If you need to me to edit a Word document, of course it is OK to send over that document separately.
PDF Bookmarks
PDF bookmarks with page numbers (e.g. 1. Pleadings, 2. Evidence etc).
PDF Page Numbers
A particular problem in dealing with page numbers in PDF documents is that they frequently don’t align to printed page numbers. This is often because cover pages or index pages are not included in the printed in the page numbers, but the PDF pages start at the first document. It “throws off” the PDF page numbers. Often this is also a problem in a court book.
There is an easy way to resolve this if you have a copy of Adobe Acrobat Pro (or similar software)
Click on All Tools then Organise Pages
If you wish to “eliminate” the cover page from the page number, the best way to do this is to make the title page page “A”. You can, in fact, give it no number - but this tends to cause other problems in terms of selecting page ranges.
Click the title (pages) and then click “page labels”
Select “Begin new section…” and select style “A, B, C”. This will mean that the title pages will not have numerical page numbers (for example a single title page will just be “A”)
If you have subsequent pages you wish to number differently, for example index pages, select those particular pages (hold ctrl and select each page) then click “page labels” again
Select “Begin new section…” and select style “A, B, C”. This will mean that the title pages will not have numerical page numbers (for example a single title page will just be “A”)
If you have subsequent pages you wish to number differently, for example index pages, select those particular pages (hold ctrl and select each page) then click “page labels” again
A particular problem in dealing with page numbers in PDF documents is that they frequently don’t align to printed page numbers. This is often because cover pages or index pages are not included in the printed in the page numbers, but the PDF pages start at the first document. It “throws off” the PDF page numbers. Often this is also a problem in a court book.
There is an easy way to resolve this if you have a copy of Adobe Acrobat Pro (or similar software)
Click on All Tools then Organise Pages
If you wish to “eliminate” the cover page from the page number, the best way to do this is to make the title page page “A”. You can, in fact, give it no number - but this tends to cause other problems in terms of selecting page ranges.
Click the title (pages) and then click “page labels”
Select “Begin new section…” and select style “A, B, C”. This will mean that the title pages will not have numerical page numbers (for example a single title page will just be “A”)
If you have subsequent pages you wish to number differently, for example index pages, select those particular pages (hold ctrl and select each page) then click “page labels” again
Select “Begin new section…” and select style “A, B, C”. This will mean that the title pages will not have numerical page numbers (for example a single title page will just be “A”)
If you have subsequent pages you wish to number differently, for example index pages, select those particular pages (hold ctrl and select each page) then click “page labels” again
Paper Briefs
Folder
In a perfect world, I would love it if my brief could be bound using double-sided pages using a comb binding. However, I appreciate this can be difficult to arrange. If you are going to use a lever-arch folder please do not overload them with too much paper. Conversely, please do not use an enormous folder to hold only a few pages. Only use 3 ring folders
Label
Include some kind of label on the spine of the folder so that I can identify it when it is on a shelf.
Tabs
If possible, I would prefer the label of the tab to described the documents behind that section (e.g. Pleadings, Evidence).
Page Numbers
Page numbers in the bottom right using a large font (preferably in red). Page numbers are obviously vital in an electronic brief.
No Staples
If you are using a lever-arch folder, please do not staple individual documents. The exception might be if you have briefed me to appear without an instructor and I will need to hand-up certain documents to the Court. Copies of those documents must be made available to me and obviously stapled.