Lawyers need little encouragement to vent about the quotidien quirks of our justice system on social media. But now things have simply gone too far. This week’s casus belli is the frankly epoch-defining news that from 6 April, hard copy court bundles must be printed double-sided, saving on weight and paper. 

‘Astonishing it has taken this long to introduce such an obviously sensible rule,’ sniffed David Graham on Twitter.

Alas, this environmental law barrister seemed to be in a minority.

‘I like the idea of lighter bundles, but there goes my space to make notes,’ groaned Nicholas Isaacs QC, while solicitor Grant Evatt noted: ‘Owners of very expensive, large free standing printers will be fine. Those operating efficient and tidy paperless offices less so.’

Fair point, but trainee solicitor Pippa Banham was unfazed by what for her is clearly a first-world problem. ‘We’ve always done double-sided bundles, but then we are a law centre so every penny counts,’ she mused.

Fortunately, John Slater proferred one obvious workaround: ‘My wife will happily give you a lesson in the use of Post-It notes. It’s amazing what can be done with different shapes & colours on single & doubled sided pages.’

Topics