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Nick Holmes finds the web in good form

A Page on the Web, published in the Solicitors Journal, March 1999.

Form-filling is a necessary chore. Here’s how the web can make it easier.

Many Government departments and agencies now publish versions of their forms on the web. These sites are of varying comprehensiveness and usefulness and appear to be directed more towards the lay rather than the professional user. However, they are likely to become an increasingly useful resource with the move towards ‘direct government’.

Forms on these sites are generally published in PDF format. PDF is Adobe Corporation’s portable document format, effectively a viewable version of Adobe’s PostScript print file format. PDF forms require that you have the Adobe Acrobat viewer installed on your computer. This is available for free download from www.adobe.com. When you access a PDF form on the web, you can either launch Acrobat to view the form or save it to disk for later viewing. PDF forms may be presented simply as images, in which case you can print copies but must fill them in by hand; or they may be fillable, in which case you can print and save the filled version.

Another popular format for forms publishing is HotDocs. To use HotDocs forms you need the HotDocs Player, available for free download from www.hotdocs.co.uk. HotDocs forms are generally presented with intelligent question and answer dialogues. HotDocs fills the form and does any necessary calculations and computations and all data can be saved for later use. Forms may also be presented as tab-through, ‘direct fill’ forms. Forms are accessed either as a HotDocs library (hdi) for download or, since version 5, as auto-assemble files (hda) which effectively enable you to fill in the form on the web, saving the filled form and answer data locally.

Since Microsoft Word is so ubiquitous, forms may also be published as Word documents (protected Word forms) with or without some form of proprietary form filling interface.

Official forms sites

  • The Court Service publishes a wide range of the current (ie soon to be obsolete) County Court forms on its Forms and Leaflets pages in PDF format. These are well organised into categories: Summons Forms, Forms before Judgment etc. Many of the forms are interactive and may be completed on screen with additional pop-up notes to assist in their completion. There is also now a collection of the new Civil Procedure forms for use from 26 April. However, these are presently published as samples ‘for information purposes only’. No doubt final versions for use in live matters will go online near the end of April.
  • The Inland Revenue publishes Self Assessment Tax returns and help sheets in PDF format.
  • The Insolvency Service publishes approximately 20 forms in PDF format.
  • The Land Registry publishes the LR109 and LR313 in PDF format.
  • There is a single form – Form 1/77 – in PDF format on the Patent Office site: room for improvement here!

Law Society Legal Aid Board forms

In a significant move, electronic versions of all Legal Aid Board (LAB) forms have now been made available free of charge to solicitors on the internet. The forms, published in a joint venture between the Law Society and legal publisher Capsoft UK are in HotDocs format.

The Law Society also expects to produce a CD-ROM containing both the forms and the HotDocs software, which will be mailed to all legal aid practices late April. Solicitors who register online will also receive email notification of LAB updates to forms, which will immediately be posted on the web.

Forms publishers’ sites

The established names in forms publishing all now have websites, though the services actually available on the web vary widely:

  • Laserform Law provides access to form downloads for registered users only. There is currently no further information on the website.
  • Oyez Straker does not provide access to its forms over the web. There is information about its forms on disk service.
  • Compuforms provides information and downloads for its forms which are in Word or WordPerfect Informs format. A forms-on-demand service enables you to fill in and print a form, using an on-screen web form interface, provided you have all the necessary software installed.
  • Peapod provides information on its range of forms.
  • FormulaForms – a new name – publishes downloadable Word forms and a free newsletter on registration.
  • Proforma provides information on its range of automated HotDocs forms, more than 20 free forms for download and forms update information, including a free newsletter, the Proforma Informer.
  • Capsoft UK publish a selection of free HotDocs forms and precedents from HotDocs publishers, including Sweet & Maxwell, Croner Publications and Proforma.

Civil Procedure Rules update

Last month’s Page on the Web featured resources concerned with the new Civil Procedure Rules. Recent developments are:

  • The Rules on the LCD site were updated on 11 March, with a number of amendments published and many more Practice Directions added.
  • Beagle has revealed himself to be Sean Overend, DCJ Devon and Cornwall.
  • Barrister Roger Horne has set up Yet Another Wolf Site – an alternative presentation of the Rules with added value hypertext links.
  • There is a useful Civil Procedure Briefing document in the News section of the Wilde Sapte website.

Nick Holmes