E-bundling in practice

It was late 2020 when we received a request from one of our law firm partners about support filing an e-bundle. We were taken aback slightly. Not because the request was outwith the realms of possibility, but because it had not come from the solicitor directly, but from the court to the solicitor and then to us. This is the same court that, historically, has had an unyielding commitment to the paper archetype.

No matter how this request came to us or the reasons why, we knew we had to act fast! We went on the hunt for a solution to help lawyers create court bundles quickly, efficiently, and completely compliant.

Slow adoption to e-bundling

In reality, courts have been moving towards e-bundles for some time. Yes, some are modernising faster than others, but it would be wrong to continue describing courts or the legal industry as a whole as laggards. A persistent assumption in the world of legal tech is that the industry is technology averse, or at least risk-averse and doesn’t want to try anything that would change its business model.

The real reason that e-bundling has not been fully adopted is because a lot of digital products out there don’t actually work. They are cumbersome, non-compliant and don’t mirror the way paper court bundles are created. Our experience is that lawyers and courts are very willing to adopt technology, especially nowadays, as long as it can meet their needs… and do it well.

Bundledocs – a digital tool to go paperless

We reached out to Bundledocs, who explained the top three reasons why their product has been built to truly replace paper with electronic court bundles. We fed this back to the client, who gave us the green light, and we immediately initiated an integration.

1. INSTANT ELECTRONIC COURT BUNDLES

No extra work. Bundles created with Bundledocs will automatically produce your bundle in electronic format. Once complete, you can easily download in PDF, save against your client matter in CaseLoad, send, and even (gulp!) print.

Power of electronic bundles. Even if you are required to print your final bundle, having an electronic copy available will always come in handy. For example, each bundle produced in Bundledocs is automatically bookmarked and the index (which is automatically generated) is fully hyperlinked too – one click and you’re there. Better still, they offer inbuilt OCR functionality, so your final e-bundle is fully text searchable.

Create court bundles on the go. As you’re no longer tied to your desk and printer, you can create complete electronic bundles wherever you are. Work seamlessly with your case management system from any location, on any device, at any time.

2. COMPLETE COMPLIANCE

Instantly archive electronic bundles. Solicitors should keep files for a lengthy period after completion – the Law Society of Scotland suggests 10 years for most litigation. Having the ability to save electronic records is great for those who want to reduce paper storage while following good practice.

Works with your system. Bundledocs makes it even easier to archive electronic court bundles through the integration with CaseLoad. Documents are organised into a neat, sectioned booklet in minutes: all your court documents in one place – simple, easy to use, time-saving and massively efficient.

3. MAXIMISE SAVINGS

Reduce unnecessary printing costs. Using tools like Bundledocs, you no longer need to print bundles unnecessarily. Produce electronically, collaboratively work with others, electronically share with anyone that needs a copy, and only print where you need to.

Work with anyone. Do you need to work with colleagues in different offices? Or share bundles with clients? Or even collaborate with the other side? There are a range of features available to make document production simple – and save you time and money too.

Changes are instant. Build your bundle up over time, make changes as you go, and save all the last minute stress. Make a change? Your page numbering is instantly updated with a single click. With no limit to the number of changes you can make, you can draft again and again until you get it just right.

What does that mean in practice?

It means that lawyers are now taking much less time to create bundles. Bundledocs takes all the pain out of ensuring that bundles are created on time and paginated properly. It simplifies a time-consuming task that until now required too much manpower and supervision, and negatively hit your profit margin. Not to mention the environmental impact.

No going back!

We can’t see how we can go back from this point. E-bundles present no disadvantages, since no one is prevented from printing out their bundle if they want to. Digital delivery simply shifts the cost of this (environmentally questionable) practice to those who want it. It also removes the costs of distributing heavy bundles physically.