Civil Litigation Lawyers: directory of firms

Litigation in England and Wales starts before court. Pre-action protocols require the parties to exchange enough information to understand each other's case and to consider settling, and the court can penalise a party that ignores them even if it wins. A properly written letter before action sets out the facts, the legal basis and what you want, and it is often the point at which the dispute ends.

If it does not, the claim is issued, the defendant files a defence, and the court allocates the case and sets a timetable. Directions cover disclosure of documents, witness statements and expert evidence. Trial is the last stop, not the default one, and the great majority of issued claims settle before reaching it.

GOV.UK also points to mediation as an alternative, describing it as an impartial person helping both sides work out an agreement. Courts expect parties to have considered it seriously.

Allocation decides how much procedure your claim gets, and therefore how much it costs. Under Part 26 of the Civil Procedure Rules, the small claims track is the normal track for claims valued at not more than 10,000 pounds, with lower thresholds for personal injury: up to 5,000 pounds for road traffic injury claims and 1,500 pounds for other personal injury claims.

The fast track takes claims not exceeding 25,000 pounds where the trial is likely to last no more than a day and expert evidence is limited to one expert per party in any field and two fields in all. The intermediate track covers monetary claims not exceeding 100,000 pounds where a proportionately managed trial would not exceed three days. Anything beyond that, and certain case types such as mesothelioma and some clinical negligence claims, goes to the multi-track.

Section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980 states that an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued. Contracts executed as a deed, claims in tort, personal injury claims and claims involving deliberate concealment have their own rules and their own start dates.

Scotland applies its own prescription and limitation legislation, and obligations there can be extinguished entirely rather than merely becoming unenforceable. The periods are generally shorter than the English equivalents. Northern Ireland has separate legislation again. Getting the applicable jurisdiction right is the first step in calculating any deadline, and it is not always obvious in a cross-border contract.

Scotland has no County Court. Most civil actions are raised in the sheriff court, with the Court of Session available for larger and more complex cases. Lower-value money claims go through Simple Procedure, which the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service describes as a speedy, inexpensive and informal way to resolve disputes. Larger claims proceed as an ordinary cause.

The vocabulary is different throughout: you raise an action rather than issue a claim, the document is an initial writ, and the person suing is the pursuer. None of the English pre-action protocols apply. A solicitor qualified in England and Wales cannot simply run a Scottish action, so cross-border disputes usually involve instructing agents in the other jurisdiction.

A judgment is a declaration that you are owed money. It does not move the money. Enforcement is a separate process, using methods such as taking control of goods, attaching earnings, charging orders over property or third-party debt orders, and each has its own application and its own cost.

That is why experienced litigators look at the defendant's ability to pay before the claim is issued rather than after judgment. A company with no assets and a judgment against it produces a piece of paper and a bill. Checking the public record, and considering whether a personal guarantee or security exists, is part of deciding whether to sue at all.