Kondo Inspired
COVID-19 has increased remote working and has seen a substantial increase in the demand for electronic briefs. With Spring in the air, now is an opportune time to clean up the Legal House and refresh our approach to digital briefing to prepare electronic briefs that would bring a smile to Marie Kondo and ensure optimisation of the briefing process.
The benefits of effective electronic briefing are obvious. Electronic briefs reduce costs, are easy to update and share, can and should be secure, and cause less environmental impact.
The key steps to consider in the preparation of an effective Electronic Brief are set out below.
How to Spark Joy
Organising the Electronic Brief
Like a hard copy brief, an effective Electronic Brief should provide the barrister with the necessary documents and information in an organised and logical manner.
Index
The documents in the Electronic Brief should be referred to in an organised index. Many barristers use the index as a “ready reckoner” to help navigate through the brief.
Observations
The Electronic Brief should contain observations summarising the matter and setting out the instructions. Here is an example of a template showing the usual information and format, including a chronology, to assist with providing effective observations.
Contents and Electronic Folders
It is helpful to create a separate electronic folder for the various categories of documents within the Electronic Brief.
Brief to Appear
An Electronic Brief to Appear (where proceedings are already commenced) should contain separate electronic folders for the following:
- Index
- Observations
- Pleadings (e.g. Summons, Originating Application, Statement of Claim, Defence, Reply, Cross Claim)
- Any request for and provision of particulars
- Affidavits or witness statements served by each party
- Key Documents (e.g. Contract or Deed)
- Key Correspondence (e.g. costs correspondence)
Brief to Advise
An electronic brief to advise should contain separate electronic folders for the following:
- Index
- Observations
- Key Documents (e.g. Contract or Deed)
- Key Correspondence (e.g. costs correspondence)
Format
Providing the documents in an Electronic Brief in a text searchable format is ideal and enables the barrister to derive the full benefit of the electronic brief (i.e. OCR).
Updating the Brief
The Electronic Brief can be updated when stored in a cloud service (eg Dropbox). It is helpful to send an email to advise that the Electronic Brief has been updated.
Platform
Electronic Briefs are preferably created on a general cloud based service (eg Dropbox) or a specialist cloud based service (eg Cloudbrief, eBrief). Otherwise, on a USB.
Platform
Electronic Briefs are preferably created on a general cloud based service (eg Dropbox) or a specialist cloud based service (eg Cloudbrief, eBrief). Otherwise, on a USB.