This chapter considers the way in which the court ‘actively manages’ cases. All disputed cases are subject to a level of court management and enforcement of its directions orders. The chapter provides an understanding of the time at which active case management commonly occurs. It explains the ethos of case management, allocation (to track), and case management directions through the tracks. It discusses the ways in which the court will seek to ensure that its orders for the management of a case are complied with.
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This chapter first considers the project management approach to resolving civil disputes. Such an approach involves following a single overall plan from the first consideration of the legal dispute up to trial. However, the fact that most cases will not in fact reach trial, and that reasonable use of alternative dispute resolution must now be made at all stages, means that any plan must be sufficiently flexible to include review, and that review needs to include options as to process. The chapter then turns to the process of case evaluation, where lawyers value what a case is worth, assess the chances of winning a case, and conduct a cost-benefit analysis. Also discussed are the importance of proportionality in the conduct of litigation and managing and reducing the risk of losing a case.
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This chapter discusses active case management and the use of sanctions. The Woolf reforms and more recently the Jackson reforms have supported the concept of active case management, the focus of which is to ensure that cases are dealt with ‘justly’ and ‘at proportionate cost’. The objectives of case management are set out in Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) Part 1 and the courts case management powers are in CPR Part 3. The powers of the court in relation to case management are wide and directions given after the issue of proceedings should provide a framework and timetable for dealing with a case right up to trial. The final section of the chapter deals with the sanctions that might be imposed where there is a failure to comply with case management requirements.
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The multi-track deals with a vast range of cases, from simple contractual disputes involving little more than £25,000, to complex commercial cases involving difficult issues of fact and law with values of several million pounds, to cases where perhaps no money is at stake but which raise points of real public importance. Cases on the multi-track will generally be dealt with either in the Royal Courts of Justice or other civil trial centre. This chapter discusses agreed directions; case management conferences; fixing the date for trial; pre-trial checklists; listing hearings; pre-trial review; directions given at other hearings; and variation of case management timetable.
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The multi-track deals with a vast range of cases, from simple contractual disputes involving little more than £25,000, to complex commercial cases involving difficult issues of fact and law with values of several million pounds, to cases where perhaps no money is at stake but which raise points of real public importance. Cases on the multi-track will generally be dealt with either in the Royal Courts of Justice or other civil trial centre. This chapter discusses agreed directions; case management conferences; fixing the date for trial; pre-trial checklists; listing hearings; pre-trial review; directions given at other hearings; and variation of case management timetable.
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Statements of case are formal documents used in litigation to define what each party says about the case. This chapter discusses forms of statements of case; particulars of claim defence; counterclaims and set-offs; reply and defence to counterclaim; subsequent statements of case; dispensing with statements of case; Scott schedules; interrelation with case management; and use of statements of case at trial.
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Statements of case are formal documents used in litigation to define what each party says about the case. This chapter discusses forms of statements of case; particulars of claim defence; counterclaims and set-offs; reply and defence to counterclaim; subsequent statements of case; dispensing with statements of case; Scott schedules; interrelation with case management; and use of statements of case at trial.
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This chapter focuses on the role of experts in civil actions. It considers when expert support is needed—whether as part of the evidence submitted in the action or as part of the advice sought to prepare the client’s case or perhaps for both situations. It discusses the role that the expert will take in both of the situations identified; when permission of the court is needed to engage and submit expert evidence in the action; the need to provide a cost estimate of using an expert and the costs consequences for the client in engaging expert evidence; the management and suitable direction of steps taken in advising clients and proceeding with an action to meet the court’s overall discretion to control the evidence; and the important matters to consider in engaging an expert and in managing several experts in a case.
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The fast track provides a ‘no-frills’ procedure for medium-sized cases that do not justify the detailed and meticulous preparation appropriate for complex and important cases. Instead, cases allocated to this track will be progressed to trial within a short timescale after the filing of a defence. The fast track covers the majority of defended claims within the £10,000–£25,000 monetary band. It also deals with non-monetary claims such as injunctions, declarations, and claims for specific performance which are unsuitable for the small claims track and do not require the more complex treatment of the multi-track. This chapter covers directions for cases allocated to the fast track; standard fast track timetable; agreed directions; varying the directions timetable; listing for trial; fast track trial; and costs in fast track cases.
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A court can impose sanctions to ensure that its case management directions and orders are complied with, and to retain control over the conduct of litigation. These range from adverse interim costs orders through to striking out the whole or part of the defaulting party’s statement of case. This chapter discusses sanctions for non-compliance with pre-action protocols, with the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR), and with directions; application for sanctions; non-compliance with an unless order; striking out; less serious immediate sanctions; extending time and correcting errors; and relief from sanctions and setting aside.
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The fast track provides a ‘no-frills’ procedure for medium-sized cases that do not justify the detailed and meticulous preparation appropriate for complex and important cases. Instead, cases allocated to this track will be progressed to trial within a short timescale after the filing of a defence. The fast track covers the majority of defended claims within the £10,000–£25,000 monetary band. It also deals with non-monetary claims such as injunctions, declarations, and claims for specific performance which are unsuitable for the small claims track and do not require the more complex treatment of the multi-track. This chapter covers directions for cases allocated to the fast track; standard fast track timetable; agreed directions; varying the directions timetable; listing for trial; fast track trial; and costs in fast track cases.
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A court can impose sanctions to ensure that its case management directions and orders are complied with, and to retain control over the conduct of litigation. These range from adverse interim costs orders through to striking out the whole or part of the defaulting party’s statement of case. This chapter discusses sanctions for non-compliance with pre-action protocols, with the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR), and with directions; application for sanctions; non-compliance with an unless order; striking out; less serious immediate sanctions; extending time and correcting errors; and relief from sanctions and setting aside.
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Martin Hannibal and Lisa Mountford
A summary trial will be held where a defendant pleads not guilty to a summary-only offence or pleads not guilty to an either-way offence where the magistrates’ court has accepted jurisdiction to try the offence at the allocation hearing and the defendant has consented to summary trial. This chapter deals with the steps in preparing for a summary trial. It considers pleading guilty by post; the circumstances in which a defendant can be summarily tried in her absence; the rules governing the drafting of a written charge/information; the pre-trial disclosure of evidence in a summary case; case management; the steps when preparing for summary trial; and the procedure at a summary trial on a not guilty plea.
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This chapter focuses on the approach of the courts to alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Parties are required to consider ADR before proceedings are issued by the protocols and Practice Direction—Pre-action Conduct. If ADR is not undertaken before issue, then it should be considered at the track allocation stage (when all the statements of case have been filed), and again after exchange of documents, and also when witness statements and expert evidence have been exchanged. The court will actively consider whether attempts have been made to settle the dispute by ADR at any case management conference, and may direct the parties to attempt ADR. If the parties reject ADR, before issue or at any stage of the litigation, they should have reasonable and cogent reasons for doing so and may be required to explain these reasons to the court. Moreover, the courts will seek to uphold and enforce ADR clauses in contracts.
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This chapter is a general introduction to civil litigation and the civil courts. It describes the process by which a civil claim is dealt with in the County Court or in the High Court. It provides an overview of the major case management powers possessed by the civil courts and discusses how these powers must be exercised to further the overriding objective of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (as amended) to deal with matters justly and at proportionate cost. A brief history of the development of the civil court rules is included and the Woolf and Jackson Reports are discussed. Some of the basic principles of civil evidence are discusses and the methods of enforcement of civil judgments are set out.
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This chapter examines the procedural issues involved in public children law proceedings. It discusses the public law outline; representation of the child; steps to be taken before proceedings; the issue and allocation of proceedings; and case management hearings. The various court hearings and meetings which take place in public law children proceedings are explained, including first appointment; the case management hearing and advocates’ meeting; the issue resolution hearing; and the final hearing. Changes to the inclusion expert evidence to only when it is ‘necessary’, is explained. The stages of the public law outline are presented in a helpful flow chart and case-law is also used for illustration.
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This chapter provides an overview of the main stages of the litigation process. It first describes the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 and the accompanying Practice Directions, which provide a basis for civil litigation, as well as the adversarial approach and the right to a fair trial. It then explains the various stages of the litigation process, beginning with the pre-action stage, which involves gathering appropriate information, evaluating the case, taking key decisions about framing the case, and building a working relationship with the other side. This is followed by discussions on starting an action; statements of case (i.e. defining the parties, the issues between the parties, and remedies sought); interim stages and case management; options for interrupting or ending litigation; preparations for trial; trial and judgment; and cases with an international element.
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This chapter first discusses the importance of the trial date. A period within which the trial should take place (a three-week window) is usually set on allocation even if the precise date is not fixed, so that a focus for litigation is set quite soon after issue. Although the court may show flexibility in reviewing preparations for trial, a trial date will rarely be moved and only for very good reason. The second section outlines the pre-trial review process, covering pre-trial checklists, statements of case, attendance of witnesses, expert evidence, trial date and directions, and preparing trial bundles. The third section deals with preparations for the trial, including the development of trial strategy and preparing to deal with witnesses. The final section discusses skeleton arguments.
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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
This chapter is a general introduction to civil litigation and the civil courts. It describes the process by which a civil claim is dealt with in the County Court or the High Court. It provides an overview of the major case management powers in the civil courts and discusses how these powers must be exercised to further the overriding objective of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (as amended) to deal with matters justly and at proportionate cost. A brief history of the development of the civil court rules is included. Some of the basic principles of civil evidence are discussed and the methods of enforcement of civil judgments are set out.
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