More than ever, UK Courts require the submission of electronic PDF binders, also known as court bundles. And the UK Supreme Court has its own set of requirements for how these PDF binders must be presented – from page numbering to linking documents and even font size. 

Working with PDF binder templates makes the process of creating court bundles a faster one. And, it means you don’t have to remember specific requirements or reformat hundreds of pages. Instead, select the template for the court you’re filing with and start adding your documents.

Whether you’re creating a PDF binder for the UK Supreme Court from a template or from scratch, below are some guidelines to keep in mind.

UK Supreme Court PDF binder guidelines

Generally, electronic court bundles for the UK Supreme Court must meet the following requirements:

The bundle is a single PDF.

The bundle is numbered in ascending order, including if it is several documents combined. The courts will, in the future, ignore the original page numbers and just refer to the bundle’s page number.

Authorities and index pages can’t be skipped in the bundle’s page numbering system. They must be numbered as part of the single PDF.

The index page needs to be hyperlinked to the pages or documents they refer to within the bundle.

The size of all pages needs to be set to 100% by default, so, regardless of an individual viewer’s settings, the bundle always opens at 100%.

Resolutions should be set to 200-300 dpi to minimize delays when scrolling through its pages. If you need to print off a hard copy, it’s best to do this before changing the resolution.

It must be possible to select text on all pages so annotations and comments can be made the bundle. This requires text recognition (also known as OCR processing), often used to make the text editable in scanned files.

Regarding bookmarks, they must be labeled so it is clear to which document they refer to. In most cases, this means it has the same name or title as the document. They should also display the relevant page numbers.

Any supplementary documents or court bundles filed near the beginning of the hearing – or during the hearing itself – need to be separate, single PDFs numbered in ascending order. They should also be filed on a new memory stick.

Creating a PDF binder template with the above elements can help save you time and reduce the likelihood of forgetting a small but important detail. Watch how to make your next electronic court bundle from a template in pdfDocs Binder.

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