The President of the High Court, hereby issues the following Practice Direction in accordance with s. 11(12) and (13) of the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020.

Introduction

1. This Practice Direction should be read with High Court Practice Direction HC93. This Practice Direction is intended to supplement Practice Direction HC93, not to replace it. It should be noted, however, that the references in Practice Direction HC93 to lodging books of papers in the Registrar’s office or the Registrar’s corridor should now be read as referring to the List Room. This Practice Direction is intended to address the format of electronic books of papers and the manner in which they should be transmitted to the court.

The Use of Electronic Books and the Continued Need for Hard Copy Books for Court

2. For trials and motions, unless directed otherwise, the Court requires both a hard copy of the books of papers as well as an electronic copy. In instances where the book of authorities is extensive, practitioners should ensure that the hard copy book contains the core authorities. Peripheral authorities can be included in the electronic copy alone.  Hard copy books should continue to be filed with the Central Office in the ordinary way. In the case of motions, hard copy books of papers are required to be lodged in the List Room no later than 4.30pm on the Wednesday preceding the Monday for which the motion is returnable in the Commercial List. Hard copy papers for trial are required to be lodged in the List Room no later than 4.30 pm on the Wednesday of the week before a trial. The same time limits apply to the transmission of electronic books to the Commercial List Registrar. The manner in which the electronic books should be transmitted is addressed in paras. 4 to 6 below.

3. Practitioners and unrepresented litigants are reminded that, under current COVID guidelines, appointments are required to be made in advance with the Central Office to secure an appointment for the purposes of filing the relevant hard copy books.

The Means of Transmission of Electronic Books to the Court

4. The Court has sometimes encountered difficulties with accessing books that have been sent electronically to the Commercial List Registrar. This has arisen from the security measures that exist on certain file sharing platforms that are used by some firms of solicitors. Sometimes, complicated passwords are required and sometimes the documents are only downloadable by the user to whom they are sent, i.e. the Registrar, rather than the Judge to whom they are to be forwarded.

5. In order to remedy this problem, all electronic books must be delivered in all instances by e-mail to the Registrar. The electronic books should be prepared in pdf. format with hyperlinks from the index of each book to each document in the book. The electronic booklets should precisely follow the form of the hard copy books and the pagination should be identical to that used in the hard copy books.

6. When using a file-share, the documents should be downloadable from a link in the e-mail which should have no security measures in place. It is important that, when the e-mail containing the link is forwarded from the Registrar to the Judge concerned, the Judge should be able to download the books without the requirement to navigate any security features of the file sharing platform. In that way, the Judge should then be able to download and save the files locally, without difficulty and without having to log on to an external website.

The Format of the Electronic Court Books for a Motion

7. Pdf. Books should be furnished duly paginated and with indices that contain hyperlinks to each document.

8. The following core books should be provided: -

(1) A book of Pleadings in date order containing each of the following (to the extent that they have been delivered or made): -

• The Summons
• The affidavit grounding the motion for entry into the Commercial List
• Memorandum of Appearance
• Statement of Claim
• Notices for Particulars and Replies
• Defence/Counterclaim
• Reply
• Any Further relevant Particulars and Replies
• Notices to Produce
• All Orders of the Court

(2) A book of Motion Papers to include the following: -

• Notice of Motion
• Grounding Affidavit (with exhibits unless they are voluminous in which case they can be provided in separate booklets)
• Any Replying Affidavits and further exchanges of Affidavits
• The Moving Party’s Written Submissions
• The Responding Party’s Written Submissions

(3) A book of Authorities containing the Relevant Authorities from all parties to include the following:-

• A copy of the provisions of the Rules of the Superior Courts under which the relief is sought (if applicable)
• All relevant statutory provisions
• Core Authorities most likely to be mentioned during oral submissions.

(4) In the case of other authorities that are more peripheral to the submissions, for example where a judgment might rely on another judgment/s, those other authorities should be contained in a separate book of non-core authorities. It is acceptable if these peripheral authorities are furnished solely in electronic form.

The Format of the Electronic Court Books for a Trial

9. Similar to a motion, Pdf. Books should be furnished duly paginated with indices that contain hyperlinks to each document.

10. The following core books should be provided:-

(1) A book of Pleadings in date order, as follows: -

• Summons
• Memorandum of Appearance
• Statement of Claim
• Notices for Particulars and Replies
• Defence/Counterclaim
• Reply
• Any Further relevant Particulars and Replies
• Notices to Produce
• The Orders made by the Court

(2) A book of core documents

This book should contain the core material which each party proposes to address at the trial of the action. It should be in a format agreed between the parties well in advance of the trial and include the relevant discovery reference from the discovery made by the parties (where it is a document discovered by one or both parties).

(3) A book of legal submissions containing:

• The Plaintiff’s Written Submissions
• The Defendant’s Written Submissions
• Any other Written submissions (from Notice Parties/Third Parties etc)

(4) A book of witness statements from each party

This book should also contain copies of any materials appended to the original witness statements as delivered

(5) A book of Authorities containing the Relevant Authorities from all parties to include the following: -

• A copy of the order of the Superior Court Rules under which any relief is sought (if applicable)
• A copy of any relevant statutory provisions.
• The Core Authorities most likely to be mentioned during oral submissions

(6) In the case of other authorities that are more peripheral to the submissions, for example where a judgment might rely on another judgment/s those other authorities might be contained in a booklet of non-core authorities. It is acceptable if these peripheral authorities are furnished solely in electronic form

Mary Irvine
President of the High Court
14th April 2022