Court Bundles

[Pj66]

I have a question about assigning solicitor to compile bundles, if you are the applicant but stated LIP, I assume the respondent if represented would be in charge on the bundle.

Should I decide to have a solicitor act for me as a one off for the bundles, would the onus on sorting the bundle then fall back onto the applicant ?

 

[Ash]

If you have a barrister at a hearing, your barrister would write up any order. At any subsequent hearings, if the ex has a solicitor and you don't, her solicitor would do the bundle. Unless you can find a barrister who will do it as well as represent you but that's not common. However you don't normally need a bundle until a final hearing and you could just hire a solicitor for a one off job to do the bundle (and maybe help with a final statement).

 

[BigLes]

If applicant ticks the box for no solicitor when submitting application and respondent has no solicitor then the applicant will be directed to prepare the bundle?

Applicant can then prepare a draft bundle as best he/she can, and then get a solicitor to finalise it, submit it etc. a Direct Access Barrister wouldn’t be able to do this for the applicant? I was hoping a DAB could do this and cut out all need for a solicitor.

If applicant has a DAB but no solicitor, and respondent has a solicitor, is respondent then tasked with bundle preparation?

If applicant ticks the “Litigant in Person” box on the application and has no solicitor at the outset of proceedings, but the respondent then says “I have a solicitor”, the respondent (via her solicitor) will be able to dictate the contents of the bundle to a certain extent (e.g. write the chronology and case summary)? In my mind such a situation is less-than-ideal.

I wonder if there any pitfalls with the following plan:
> Tick the ‘Litigant in Person’ box of the court application form
> prepare the bundle yourself
> get a solicitor and a barrister (or, even better, a DAB that is willing and able to do paperwork AND act as counsel in proceedings) so that the solicitor does the absolute minimum admin tasks (thus minimising costs)
> uninstruct the solicitor so you don’t end up paying for any post-hearing back-and- forth emails.

I feel the solicitor would still find a way to charge a fortune though.

I wonder if there’s a way to cut out a solicitor entirely, use a DAB, and also ensure that the task of bundle preparation is given to the applicant

 

[Ash]

I wonder if there’s a way to cut out a solicitor entirely, use a DAB, and also ensure that the task of bundle preparation is given to the applicant

That has happened but the barrister would need to agree to do a bundle and would charge for it. And they don't normally do that. Some more junior ones might, if they want the work.