The Bundler – Criminal Case Preparation

The Bundler is a perfect solution for criminal practitioners. The Bundler enables users to be in complete control of files, manage CPS digital evidence delivery and harness technology to make practice easier. Criminal practitioners have always been adept at managing change and innovating. The changes to public funding place even more pressure on criminal practitioners and require new ways of working. Let's face it, often the choice is stark, adapt and innovate or simply shut up shop.

The Bundler keeps all of your documents on your system. It is not shared with the court, the CPS or the police and probation. It is yours. You are not relying on the cloud, or Wi-Fi in the court, or anyone else. You download the documents, store them and then use them as you please.

The Bundler enables lawyers to efficiently download, store, index and paginate the electronic evidence. You can split the combined email into separate statements, exhibits and documents. You can also annotate documents to prepare for trials and hearings. You can make separate sub bundles for individual witness cross examination, without disturbing the main bundle.

You will only ever have to print off what you need, when you need it. Using portable technology you can carry your whole caseload securely to court, to prisons or work from home. The Bundler means that your case load is always current, and always secure.

An integral part of the Bundler is securely encrypted email, directly from the system. You can send bundles to counsel, evidence to experts safe in the knowledge that if it is hacked the email and attachments are protected. Given that the Information Commissioner has just handed out a fine of £325,000 for a Data Protection breach, this really matters.

And of course, it automatically counts your pages for you.

Using the Bundler you can also store defence statements and documents securely, on one case file to save duplication and repetition. The Bundler is your paper file on your laptop. As simple as that.

The Bundler is practitioner designed and refined. Decameron have been producing trial bundles in complex proceedings since 2003. This is solid, tried and tested technology. The Bundler is based on real criminal court experience and has been used for cases where thousands of pages of evidence need collating, paginating, indexing and updating.

You don’t need any special hardware, you don’t need any technical expertise. You just need the Bundler.

The Bundler – Criminal Lawyers FAQs

What difference will it make to me?

A great deal. The CPS digitalisation project and transition from hard copy to electronic service of disclosure and trial documents will have a huge effect. The Bundler takes those electronic documents and puts them into order, allows you to annotate for trial and hearing prep and stores them on your equipment.

Why does it matter where the documents are stored? What about the CPS cloud in the future?

The cloud is still an unknown entity. It may work well in many places, but connectivity can be an issue in courts, and prisons and police stations. Having documents in a central place to be stored is one thing, but having documents you want to work on then being stored in a place where the police, CPS, probation and other defence lawyers have access to is a little different. Personally I like to know that the documents I am working on are actually mine.

Also, a criminal case is not just the prosecution papers. You need to have the defence statements, exhibits and other documents available- and no-one is ever going to suggest that these should be in the CPS owned and managed cloud!

But I just print the documents off – it is so much easier. Wouldn’t the Bundler simply mean more work for me?

Keep printing them off – sometimes there is nothing like working directly from a piece of paper. Nothing compares to it. However in the brave new world printing off reams and reams of paper will cost you. And you may not need everything to be printed off.

Also storing documents centrally on your own system means that other people in you firm can access them as they need to do so. It means you can access any document on any case in seconds.

What about going to Court - or prison - or for conferences with counsel?

Wherever you go you can take your cases with you. Either via the internet or from a downloaded bundle, using your laptop, tablet or smart phone you can see every document you need.

Using annotation and notes you can be prepared for any trial, hearing or meeting with the minimum of fuss.

Also there are some cases when not having an internet enabled device is professionally more comfortable.

What about security issues?

Cases produced using the Bundler are compliant with the MoJ security requirements as everything is stored on your own systems. By downloading the documents you are in control of the security and using system like Citrix the security issues are resolved. Password protection and encryption make the electronic case file actually safer than the paper file.

Isn’t this new technology, how can you assure me it is right for crime?

The great thing about the Bundler is that it is innovative usage, but tried and tested technology. Since 2003 the same mechanics have produced thousands and thousands of paginated bundles. It has been used by Trading Standards department to produce court bundles for crown court trials.

The changes we have made to the Bundler to make it fit for purpose for criminal practitioners benefit other litigators. Splitting multiple page pdfs into separate documents has been the principal change.

I trained to be a lawyer not an IT wizard, it is too much hassle.

If you can send an email you get the most out of this product. You can be using it to prepare cases within an hour of installation. The Bundler was designed by a real life practitioner who started out as a criminal defence solicitor. This is not a theoretical ideal of how practice should be, it is borne from real life experience.

This is technology as the slave not the master, quick to grasp and it will save you hours and hours of time both in the office and in court.

Give us a call on 0845 643 7396 to discuss how the Budler can work for you, your firm or chambers to help manage the latest proposed Legal AId changes.