UK News
Bluebird Support Services Limited, which provides specialist outsourced secretarial services to lawyers and professionals of growing practices across the globe, won ‘Bundle of the Year 2022’ after delivering thousands of pages of evidence to court and tribunals during a Covid-hit 2021.
The award recognises the work Bluebird did supporting clients who needed transcription and document services in digital formats rather than the pre-pandemic printed versions, as all hearings and trials took place over video.
Organised by legal innovator Zylpha, Bluebird was acknowledged at providing the largest electronic bundle.
Jayne Smith, founder and managing director of Bluebird, said: “It’s fantastic to be recognised for delivering innovative solutions and working practices over the previous 12 months to our clients in the legal sector. It’s been a very challenging couple of years with courts and tribunals realising the need to switch to digital documents overnight, and not use paper files which could consist of hundreds of full lever arch files.
“And with all documentary evidence for hearings and trials needed to be served electronically in a PDF format, which had to adhere to very specific court guidelines, the task for firms was significant. It caused a tsunami of change that many businesses needed support with, which is where we came in while also helping with training or additional transcription and document services.
“I can’t imagine many judges being happy to have truck loads of files delivered to their house when we were all asked to work from home, so we were able to help by supplying millions of pages of paper documents almost instantly in the right digital formats. It takes a lot of organisational effort and time to collate the documents in the required order and produce them for the court’s requirements.
“Managing electronic files requires a significant attention to detail and very clear processes to prevent errors. This award relates to large electronic bundle for Dubai-based Horizons & Co law firm consisted of 26 separate PDF files which, between them, contained 4,500 individual documents, and around half a million pages.”
The difference between the paper version and electronic version of the large bundle is physical space.
The documents can be very complex in that they have embedded plans and bibles which mean lots of megabytes, and documents that had to be compressed.
Jayne added: “Credit must be given to the legal teams and expert witnesses involved with the award-winning bundle, because the index was very well organised and the files were named in a structure easy to locate within SharePoint folders. There were minimal missing documents, and the legal teams were very quick with responses. There must have been an inordinate amount of time spent in preparing the index alone.”
Miranda Evans, Zylpha marketing manager, said: “We set out to highlight the benefits that can be achieved through having a forward-thinking and innovative mindset, particularly when it comes to technology. In 2020, when Coronavirus restrictions changed the way people worked, we noticed a lot of organisations challenging their ‘we’ve always done it this way’ way of thinking, opting for more process-efficient technology solutions.
“Many of our products such as Zylpha Bundling are now widely recognised as ‘best practice’ solutions, and as such we felt it was time to recognise and honour the achievements of those who are leading the way. The awards show our appreciation for our clients’ loyalty but also their dedication and ability to keep going during challenging times.”
Bluebird also provides e-bundling services to Litigants In Person who also struggle with the changes in court processes and rarely have the equipment or software to follow court directions.
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