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Practice Notes issued by the Chief Justice

17. Guidelines for the use of information technology in litigation in any civil matter

Annexure A

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CHECK LIST

Parties are encouraged to use this checklist to identify information technology issues that may arise during proceedings. Ideally, this checklist should be completed at the time proceedings are commenced.

1. CHECKLIST FOR COURT DOCUMENTS AND WITNESS STATEMENTS

a. Document Format

Select which document format that will be used for Court Documents and Witness Statements:

 Hard copy only
 Electronic only
 Hard copy and electronic copy

b. Electronic Document Format

If electronic Court Documents and Witness Statements are to be exchanged between parties, it is suggested that documents be created in a Structured Format so that parties wishing to use tools such as hypertext links can do so.

Select which electronic format/s are to be used for preparation of Court Documents and Witness Statements:

 ASCII text file
 Word Perfect, Version ………………..
 Microsoft Word, Version ………………..
 Word Pro, Version ………………..
 RTF
 PDF
 HTML
 Other ………………..

2. DOCUMENT LISTS

a. List Format

Select the format in which Document Lists are to be prepared:

 Hard copy only
 Electronic only
 Hard copy and electronic copy

b. Electronic List Format

If Document Lists are to be prepared in electronic format, select the format/s in which they will be prepared:

 ASCII text file
 Word Perfect, Version _____________
 Microsoft Word, Version _____________
 Word Pro, Version ____________
 RTF
 PDF
 HTML
 Other ____________

c. Data Collection Repositories

Consideration should be given to which data collection repositories the parties will use. Some examples are:

 Microsoft Access
 Lotus Notes
 Filemaker Pro
 SQLBase
 Excel Spreadsheet

3. DOCUMENT INSPECTION

a. Document Inspection Format

Select the format/s in which documents are to be offered for inspection:

 Hard copy only
 Electronic format and/or images of hard copy
 Both hard copy and electronic copy
 Non paper format ie an object that is not a paper document
 Combination of hard, electronic and non paper format (non paper objects should be noted in electronic data)
 Other medium

b. Electronic Image Type

If documents are to be imaged for inspection, select the image type/s that will be used:

 TIFF
 PDF
 JPEG
 GIF
 Black and White
 Colour
 Other

c. Electronic Image Structure

If documents are to be imaged for inspection, select the image structure to be used:

 Multi-Page
 Single-Page

d. Image Resolution

It is suggested that images should be scanned in at around 200 dpi; any greater and file size may be unworkable.

e. Filename Structure

It is suggested that images should be named identically to the relevant Document ID.

f. Special Considerations

Consideration should be given to whether there are any special requirements such as redacting or masking.

4. EXCHANGE OF AGREED BUNDLE/COURT BOOK INDEXES

a. Document Inspection Format

Select the format in which the agreed bundle/court book index will be prepared:

 Hard copy only
 Electronic format and/or images of hard copy
 Both hard copy and electronic copy
 Other medium

b. Electronic Document Index Format

If an electronic document index is to be used, select the format in which the index will be prepared:

 Delimited ASCII text file
 Word Processing Format
 Excel Spreadsheet
 Database Tables
 Other

5. DOCUMENT EXCHANGE METHOD

Select the method by which Court Documents and Witness Statements, Documents Lists and Indexes are to be exchanged:

 DX
 Courier
 Australia Post
 Floppy disk
 CD-Rom
 Electronic Mail
 Internet
 Intranet

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