A significant number of documents are now being filed with the Court by email or digital filing service. To facilitate the effective receipt, handling, management and use of these documents by Court staff and the judiciary, the Court has prepared the following guidelines, applicable to all documents filed by email or digital upload. All counsel and parties are expected to comply with these Guidelines to the greatest extent permitted by their technological resources.
- Where filing by email, the covering email must follow the protocol set out in the Announcement from Court and Justice Services dated April 20, 2022.
- Include digital copies of all documents that you intend to rely upon, even those previously filed.
- All documents must follow the below criteria:
- Documents and files must not be password protected.
- Documents must be PDF format, with the exception of the submission of proposed orders for Justice and Family Chambers which must be in word format (as set out in News and Announcements – Updated – Submission of Draft orders in word or pdf format dated March 18, 2021)
- Documents must be searchable. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) should be applied before filing.
- Where a document has attachments (e.g. an affidavit with exhibits), the pdf file should be bookmarked. Bookmarks should include a short description (e.g. Exhibit 1 – Purchase Agreement). This allows the Court to move through the document in a similar manner to a hard copy index and tabs.
- Separate documents should be sent as separate PDF files.
- Where practical, hyperlinks must be used to allow for efficient reference to authorities, evidence or other documents. Please note that hyperlinks must connect to open source reporting services (as hyperlinks to caselaw obtained through the submitter's legal services subscription accounts will not function for non-account holders).
- Each pdf file must not exceed 100MB.
Naming PDF Documents
Instructions on how to name your PDF documents for submission can be found in the Announcement from Court and Justice Services dated April 20, 2022. Documents that do not comply with the above noted naming convention will not be accepted for filing.
Unless otherwise expressly suspended or stated to be inapplicable, all of the filing requirements in the Rules of Court or Practice Notes for pagination, numbered paragraphs, page limits, indexes, and other such requirements apply to documents filed electronically.