You have a court date tomorrow and the work is largely done, but you do not trust yourself to remember everything at 7am.
A packed bag, a working USB stick, a confirmed route, a one-page script, and a reasonable night's sleep.
A senior civil trial solicitor.
Filing deadlines, the number of copies, how and where a bundle is delivered, what may be handed up, and what must be filed in advance are set by the rules, practice notes and orders in your matter. If anything on this page conflicts with them, follow them. This guide is a logistics system, not a procedural authority.
The central rule
Anything you write after dinner tonight will be your worst work of the week and will not be properly checked. Tonight you confirm that what exists is complete, findable and physically in the bag. New arguments are not written tonight. If a genuine error is found, or something new emerges that the court must be told about, that is dealt with, and any directions about notice, evidence or submissions still bind you; the freeze is a habit, not a rule.
The night before, the avoidable losses are practical: a printer that fails at 9pm, a bundle delivered to the wrong building, a phone at 4% battery, or a script that lives only in your head. Every item below has failed for somebody. The list is short so you can actually finish it.
Freeze the documents
Choose a time, say 6pm, after which no document changes. Write the time on a sticky note. After that moment, your job is verification.
- Open the final version of every document you will rely on tomorrow. Confirm the filename says what it is, whose it is, and the date on its face. If you use the file-naming system, this takes minutes.
- Check that the filed or served version is the one in your bag, not the last draft. A sealed or stamped copy where one exists.
- Read the index of your court book and physically locate every tab. Do this even if you did it yesterday.
- Confirm the orders, directions or notice that set tomorrow's date. Note the time, the list, the courtroom if published, and the judicial officer if known.
- Confirm what, if anything, you are required to bring, hand up or have already delivered.
Treat a home printer as unreliable. If a document must be printed tonight, print it now, not last. If the printer dies, a PDF on a USB stick can be printed at an office-supply store or print shop in the morning; check first that nothing in the pack is confidential, privileged or court-restricted, and use a provider you can trust with it. Save every PDF to the stick before you go to bed regardless.
Physical kit
Pack the bag tonight and put it by the door. Do not pack it in the morning.
- The court book or bundle, tabbed, with a working copy you can write in if permitted
- A loose copy of the orders or notice that set the date, plus any short minutes or proposed orders
- Your one-page script (below), printed, and a second copy in a different pocket
- A blank notepad and two pens. One will run out.
- Removable flags and a highlighter for the working copy
- Photo identification, and anything security may ask for
- Phone charger or battery pack. The building may not have a spare socket near you.
- Water and something to eat. Lists run late and the café closes.
- The USB stick, in the bag, not in the laptop
- Clothes chosen and laid out. Plain, neat, comfortable to sit in for hours.
Digital kit
- Every document you rely on as a PDF on a USB stick, named clearly, in one folder
- The same PDFs on your phone in an app that works offline
- Phone charged to full tonight; laptop charged if you are taking one
- A note on the phone with the courtroom, list time, proceeding number, and the registry and chambers contact details published by the court
- Any email confirmation of filing, delivery or listing, saved where you can find it without a network
- Alarm set. Two alarms if you are honest with yourself.
Public court networks can be slow, filtered or absent. Anything you may need to show or check should already be on the device.