How to prepare a court document bundle (حافظة مستندات): a practical guide for lawyers, with an index template

What courts across the Arab world expect from a bundle of documents, how to lay out the index, divider sheets and page numbers, and how to do it in minutes.

A document bundle is the file in which you put the written evidence for your claim or defence before the court: contracts, correspondence, invoices, earlier judgments, expert reports, legal notices. The rule every experienced litigator knows: a document the judge cannot find quickly might as well not have been filed. Ordering and indexing the bundle is part of the strength of the argument, not a formality.

What Arab courts have in common

Details differ from country to country, but the core is the same:

- A front page showing the court and circuit, the case or appeal number and year, the capacity and name of the party filing the bundle, and the opponent.
- A numbered index describing each document precisely, with its date and page count.
- A closing line, "Total: (…) documents only", followed by counsel's signature and the date.
- Documents arranged in exactly the order of the index.

In the UAE the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department form uses the columns Number, Description, Pages and Date, with a "Presented by: Claimant / Defendant" box and signature. In Egypt the Court of Cassation bundle opens "Bundle of documents submitted by Mr …, Advocate, as agent for …", lists number, count, date and subject for each item and ends "… documents only". In Qatar the QICDRC e-bundling guidance requires a searchable PDF, computer-generated numbering of every page, an index linked to the pages and a bookmark for each document. In Saudi Arabia attachments ("مشفوعات") should be arranged in logical sequence, numbered and indexed for filing through Najiz.

Writing the description

A good description answers three questions: what kind of document is it, who issued it and when, and what does it contain that matters to the case. "Contract" is weak; "Copy of the construction contract dated 15 March 2024 between … (employer) and … (contractor) for a residential building at AED 2,500,000, including a delay penalty of 0.1% per day" is what the judge needs. Start with "Copy of" when filing a copy and "Original" when filing the original.

Order

Arrange documents chronologically within each topic: first what proves the legal relationship (the contract), then the breach (invoices, correspondence), then the demand (the legal notice), then loss or enforcement (judgments, reports, transfers). Put a numbered divider sheet before each document so the court can turn straight to "Document No. (4)".

Common mistakes

- An index that does not match the actual order.
- Unnumbered pages, or handwritten numbers covering text.
- The same document filed twice.
- Upside-down or unreadable scans.
- Generic descriptions ("correspondence") that cannot be cited in a memorandum.

Doing it in minutes with LexArab

LexArab's Document Bundle tool does all of this: upload the files (PDF, Word or scanned images) in order, the assistant reads each one, writes the formal description and extracts the date; you review, edit and reorder the index; then download one PDF containing the front page, the index, numbered divider sheets and the documents themselves, with "page x of y" on every page and a bookmark per document — ready for e-filing or printing.