Civil & Commercial Litigation

In practice, yes. The Civil Procedure Rules and the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct expect parties to exchange enough information to understand each other's positions and to consider settlement or ADR before issuing a claim. A party who refuses unreasonably to engage can be penalised in costs even if they win, and since the Court of Appeal's decision in Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil in November 2023 — written into the Civil Procedure Rules in October 2024 — the courts can order parties to engage in ADR.

Generally six years from the breach for a simple contract, and twelve years for a deed, under the Limitation Act 1980. Some claims are shorter — a claim under the Human Rights Act 1998 has one year and defamation has one — so check the deadline before anything else.

Usually part of them. The general rule is that the loser pays the winner's reasonable costs, but you will rarely recover everything you spent — the court allows only the costs it assesses as reasonable and proportionate — and on the small claims track (most claims up to £10,000) costs recovery is very limited. We factor this into the advice on whether to fight.

Value and complexity. Most claims under £100,000 start in the County Court; higher-value or specialist commercial claims go to the High Court, including the Business and Property Courts. The procedure is broadly the same; the High Court is costlier and its judges are specialists.