Any case involves efficient provision of materials. The client should feel part of the team of solicitors, barristers, and experts. Efficient working improves prospects of success and reduces costs. Here are some tips.

Initial enquiries

We are happy to field initial enquiries by telephone, but it is almost always easier to discuss your matter if we have first had some documents to get an initial idea of “what you are talking about”. Our team of experienced paralegals or whoever takes the call will ask for this – so do try and get something ready. It is useful to have a brief written history of a matter that includes what the perceived problem is, what you are trying to achieve, and “where you are” with it. A short, succinct narrative is fine.

Organising the paperwork

A set of well organised papers is very helpful. Try and put them in date order, so the most recent email, letter or document at the end. We may need some originals in due course. For emails it will save so much time and therefore cost if we receive email strings which have been cut and pasted out onto e.g., Word and on separate pages. This avoids lots of wasted time sorting out strings of emails, often with duplications, and reading backward and forwards. And get rid of long email footers (which contain e.g., verbiage about confidentiality etc). A specific tip for avoiding trouble with email headings (date, address etc.) is first to start forwarding the email and cut and paste from that state.

Letters and documents should similarly be organised chronologically. It may or may not be easy to interleave letters with emails. In any event, the finished product should as easily as possible tell a coherent story from start to finish so we can quickly understand what the problem is.

Please include any information that may be relevant. If vital documents surface at the last minute this can cause unfortunate problems.

Decision documents

Many of our cases relate to public authority decisions, especially decisions made by local planning authorities. These are usually available from the authority’s website. It helps if you at least provide a planning reference, and if possible, a link to the site. The council website will usually have documents relating to a committee consideration on a separate part of the site (usually found by searching “committee agendas” or similar). There you will usually find the crucial officer report, and updates, and minutes of the meeting. Most meetings also have a video or audio recording. These are very useful for understanding how a decision was made. We have a facility producing transcripts of these meetings (simply listening or viewing is very time consuming) which is excellent value for money.

Groups

It is best to nominate one person or a very small sub-group of people to communicate with us. If lots of people provide their comments at once, it can blur the lines of communication and increase the chances of the group giving us conflicting instructions. This can raise costs where we have to correspond with a number of people or decipher mixed instructions in time sensitive situations.

Communications

We prefer to use email as that reduces costs, is instant, and is generally easier than traditional post. We have good telephone and Zoom video conferencing arrangements. When in Court it can be efficient to set up WhatsApp groups in order to help instruct counsel. Although post-pandemic the Courts are less inclined to have remote involvement, even if everyone is in Court this can help.