This chapter discusses the use of the legal knowledge in practice. A good general working knowledge of legal principles for effective legal practice should enable a lawyer to get initial ideas about the legal shape of a case so as to be able to draw up a proper research plan. Without a good general knowledge it can be difficult to know where to start, or to spot areas of a case that might require legal analysis. The chapter explains the use of practitioner sources (i.e. statutes and statutory instruments, case law, books and journals, online resources, and other lawyers); the importance of strategic legal research; planning research and presenting findings; the ways in which law is used in litigation; and combining law and fact to define a case. Once full analysis of facts and law has been put together to define a case, the resulting legal elements and the factual allegations that show the legal elements comprise the issues in the case. These issues are then the focus for all decisions on procedure and evidence, and for case management once proceedings are issued.
Chapter
9. Making Best Use of Law to Define Issues
Book
A Practical Approach to Effective Litigation analyses the key skills needed to handle a case effectively. At a time of rapid and wide-ranging change in the delivery of legal services, the current edition reworks the text to take into account the implications of the implementation of the Jackson Review, and to see effective litigation clearly in the context of concerns about funding, case management by the court, costs, and the growing use of alternative dispute resolution. The volume has a strong focus on the needs of the legal practitioner, the decisions to be taken at each stage of a case, and the criteria to apply in making those decisions. This is all securely based in references to relevant Civil Procedure Rules and decided cases, with checklists and commentary to assist in the project management of a case. The work also focuses on the skills a lawyer needs to work effectively. This includes skills in dealing with a client, drafting legal documents, and presenting a case in court. Throughout the work the emphasis is on demonstrating how to use law effectively, how to develop a case, and how to present persuasive arguments. Lawyers operate in an increasingly complex environment, faced with challenges in funding a case, in managing a case to avoid sanctions, and in using complex rules to best effect. The work addresses the use of legal knowledge and skills within this rapidly changing context, bearing in mind not least that the pace of change is likely to continue with the developing use of IT, and the widening use of alternative business structures.
