Sidelining
In my last post, I mentioned that the EAT likes the relevant passages of authorities to be highlighted or sidelined.
Highlighting is fairly obvious. You take a yellow highlighter and highlight the relevant parts of the judgment.
Sidelining is similar. You take a pen and draw a vertical line to the left of the relevant passage. Unless you have a very steady hand, it’s best to use a ruler.
Coincidentally, the quotes on this site are sidelined.
Personally, I prefer sidelining, because I think it looks neater. But this is really a matter of personal preference.
How much to highlight / sideline is a matter of judgment. In general it should be done sparingly. The idea is to mark a few key passages which contain the heart of the judgment, and which you are likely to refer to in the hearing. If you’re highlighting much more than that, you’re probably doing too much.
You should also try to agree the relevant passages with the other side. The normal way of doing this is to send a brief email or note making your suggestions in the form: Jones v Smith — para 8, 9-10 ….
Should be noted that, at the moment, quotes on etclaims.co.uk aren’t sidelined. It was true when I wrote the post, but we’ve hd a redesign.