District Judge Robert Forrester on why filing at court will never be the same

The Cybercourt is at practitioners' doorsteps or soon will be.

On 6 October 2003 the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 Practice Direction 5B (Communication and filing of documents by e-mail) came into force.

It permits use of e-mail for correspondence and filing in County Courts and District Registries at Preston, Walsall, Leicester, Basildon and Coventry, and in the Commercial Court.

This will spread nationwide until by March 2006 most courts are covered.

It does not apply to family cases, apart from correspondence, and not at all to adoption and insolvency cases.

The PD only tells part of the story.

The rest is in Web guidance, which the PD incorporates, and is on the Court Service Web site at: www.courtservice.gov.uk/using_courts/email_guidance/index.htm.

The guidance sets out the procedure and which courts are presently accepting e-filing.

Courts and procedures will change rapidly.

There is no substitute for frequent reference.

The following is about the County Court and District Registry procedures; Commercial Court procedure is slightly different.

Broadly, any documents can be sent where a fee is not payable: for a full list, see paragraph 1 of the guidance.

These include particulars of claim if they have been lodged after issue of the claim, acknowledgements of service, defences (but not if there is a counterclaim), and requests for judgment in default.

The court will also accept general correspondence, including skeleton arguments.

The addresses to use are in the guidance but are the same for each court apart from the court's name.

The message should be in plain or rich text format, not HTML.

The document to be filed or the letter can be sent as an e-mail message or attachment.

Attachments in all the usual formats are accepted.

Most are sent as rich text or Word files but must not exceed 2Mb, about 70 pages in Word.

If there is a practice form, it should be used.

Hard copies must not be sent subsequently.

The header should contain, and preferably in this order: claim number; title, abbreviated if needed, and surnames only in family cases, subject matter, for example defence, and if about a hearing, date and time.

All messages will be acknowledged but if received after 4pm are treated as filed the next day.

What if the document requires a statement of truth? Then, see paragraph 5 of the PD.

The original should be signed as usual but retained.

The name of the signatory is typed under the statement on the filed copy.

Alternatively, a scanned copy may be filed or one with a mechanical signature.

Internet e-mail is not secure, so practitioners should always consider whether what they are sending is suitable for this route.

But what of the advantages? Speed and convenience, obviously; documents can be instantaneously filed far away.

Electronic documents will pass directly from the draftsman's computer to the court.

By April 2004, the Cybercourt will advance to accept fees paid and forms completed on-line.

District Judge Robert Forrester sits at Preston County Court