Bundle of joy

More than 30 years ago, I was appearing as a raw and inexperienced articled clerk in Blackpool County Court on a summons for directions issued by my principal. As I walked into the registrar's chambers, the 'Green Book' thrown in my direction hit the door that I had pushed open and the registrar screamed that I had better learn the law before coming back, and make sure that I had a full set of pleadings with me. It was the correct advice but perhaps the manner of its telling was extreme.

Although I have a reputation as a district judge for being grumpy on occasions, I would never think of such an act when faced in a family case with no bundle at all; more bundles than the case could ever justify, with duplication galore; bundles that have not been paginated, and those where the pagination in my bundle and that of the parties is different; bundles held together with treasury tags that are so tight the bundle refuses to open; bundles which fall apart as soon as they are picked up and opened; and bundles containing unreadable photocopies or page after page of handwritten documents that are indecipherable.

The requirements for bundles for the judge and the parties have been around for years. Solicitors and counsel were reminded of their responsibility to comply with the practice directions following the judgment of Munby J (as he then was) in X and Y (Bundles) [2008] EWHC 2058 (Fam), and the warning on penalties it contained.

More often than not, solicitors and litigants in person comply with orders for filing of evidence and reports, but my experience is that the court file is rarely up to date and kept in 'apple pie' order. Evidence and reports can take days to reach a file particularly if the date of the next hearing is not emblazoned on the accompanying letter, and so judges often do not have the same papers as the advocates unless there is an agreed bundle.

The law relating to court bundles has recently been clarified in the Family Proceedings Rules 2010. Rule 27.6 confirms that practice direction 27A must be followed for the preparation of court bundles in respect of hearings and direction appointments, except in the family proceedings court.

In publicly funded cases on submission of the family advocacy scheme advocate's attendance in form EX506 the judge can certify the size of the court bundle and whether a bolt-on payment is due because of its size.

The bolt-on may not be claimed in domestic abuse proceedings, but may be claimed in public and private law children cases and in finance matters. I struggle to understand the thinking of parliament in excluding domestic abuse which can involve a difficult and often complex type of contested hearing.

In private law proceedings, court bundle bolt-ons may only be claimed at one interim hearing per case. For this purpose the children and finance aspects of a case will be treated separately.

In public law proceedings court bundle payments may be claimed for no more than two interim hearings and each of these must be either a case management conference, an issues resolution hearing or otherwise a hearing that is listed for the hearing of contested evidence.

These bolt-ons apply to applications for funding made on or after 9 May 2011 in accordance with paragraph 10.28 of the Family Specification. For cases started before that date previous guidance including the guidance on the family graduated fee scheme will continue to apply.

Increasing numbers

I note with concern the growth in the number of bundles required particularly in public law cases. I acted for a father in a Munchausen case more than 20 years ago with just two bundles prepared by the local authority.

This week I have heard a public law case on disposal issues only and there were nine local authority bundles although we only referred to two of the bundles, and in the second bundle we looked at just one page.Is it not time for commonsense to prevail?

All county courts have in the last year or two been subject to a procedure called 'lean' the result of which is that bundles should be collected from the district judge at the end of the hearing or if local practice indicates within a few days thereafter, for they will not now be stored. They will be recycled.

District judges know that those of you who continue to work with publicly funded litigants are suffering financial constraints, and we can see that the sums payable for bundles are small, but you will, if a bundle has reached the judge the night before when he reads the file, receive a warmer welcome than I did those many years ago.