1. Choosing the appropriate dispute-resolution mechanismCandidates should be able to compare:LitigationArbitrationMediationEssential distinctions include:Binding versus non-binding processesPriv…
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Overview
1. Choosing the appropriate dispute-resolution mechanism
Candidates should be able to compare:
Litigation
Arbitration
Mediation
Essential distinctions include:
Binding versus non-binding processes
Privacy and confidentiality
Enforceability
Cost and speed
Procedural flexibility
Specialist decision-makers
Preservation of commercial relationships
Availability of appeals
International enforcement
Whether urgent court remedies may be required
A common question presents a client’s priorities and asks which mechanism is most appropriate.
2. Preliminary assessment of a claim
A candidate should be able to identify:
The correct claimant and defendant
The relevant cause of action
The elements that must be proved
Available remedies
Potential defences
Evidential strengths and weaknesses
Whether additional parties should be joined
Whether a contribution or indemnity claim may be made
This frequently requires combined application of Dispute Resolution with Contract or Tort.
3. Limitation
This is a particularly important examination area.
Candidates should know how to calculate limitation periods for:
Simple contract claims: generally six years from accrual
Tort claims: generally six years from accrual
Personal injury claims: generally three years
Latent damage claims in negligence
Claims involving fraud, concealment or mistake
Claims involving children or protected parties
Candidates should understand:
When a cause of action accrues
The difference between issuing and serving proceedings
When time may be postponed or extended
The court’s discretion in personal injury cases
The importance of issuing before expiry
4. Pre-action conduct
Candidates should understand:
The purpose of the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct
The role of specific pre-action protocols
Letters of claim and responses
Early exchange of information and documents
Consideration of ADR
Experts and early evidence
Proportionality
The consequences of non-compliance
Possible consequences include:
Staying proceedings
Adverse costs orders
Indemnity costs
Interest penalties
Deprivation of interest
The examination often asks about the most proportionate response to a party’s failure to comply.
5. Applicable law and jurisdiction
Candidates should know, at functioning level:
How the applicable law of a contractual claim is identified
How the applicable law of a tort claim is identified
The effect of an express choice-of-law clause
The basic rules applying where no choice has been made
When the courts of England and Wales may hear a dispute
How a defendant challenges jurisdiction
Highly specialist international jurisdiction rules are not generally expected, but candidates must understand the procedural consequences when proceedings have an international element.
6. Where proceedings should be commenced
Candidates must distinguish between:
County Court
High Court
Relevant specialist courts and lists
They should be able to consider:
Financial value
Complexity
Public importance
Need for specialist expertise
Appropriate High Court division or specialist list
Do not confuse the court in which proceedings begin with the track to which they are subsequently allocated.
7. Issuing and serving the claim
This is one of the most technically important areas.
Candidates should know:
How a claim is commenced
The function of the claim form and particulars of claim
When particulars may be served separately
Permitted methods of service
Who may be served and at what address
Deemed service rules
The deadline for serving a claim form
Service within and outside the jurisdiction
Alternative service
Adding, removing or substituting parties
Particular attention should be given to the distinction between:
Actual receipt
Deemed service
The deadline for taking the next procedural step
8. Responding to proceedings
Candidates must understand the defendant’s options:
Admit all or part of the claim
File an acknowledgment of service
File a defence
Make a counterclaim
Challenge jurisdiction
Take no action, risking default judgment
Core time limits should be learned accurately, including:
Acknowledgment of service
Defence
Extended time following acknowledgment
Agreed extensions for filing a defence
Challenging jurisdiction
Candidates must also know:
When default judgment may be entered
When it is unavailable
Mandatory and discretionary grounds for setting it aside
The importance of acting promptly
9. Statements of case
Know the purpose and basic content of:
Claim form
Particulars of claim
Defence
Reply
Counterclaim
Part 20 claim
Defence to a Part 20 claim
Candidates should understand:
Admissions, denials and non-admissions
The need to state a positive alternative case
Requests for further information
Statements of truth
Amendments before and after service
Amendments after limitation has expired
10. Interim applications
Candidates should know the general application procedure and the principal tests for:
Summary judgment
Whether the opposing party has no real prospect of succeeding and there is no other compelling reason for trial.
Interim payment
When the claimant may obtain part of the likely damages before trial and the restrictions on the amount ordered.
Interim injunction
The essential principles include:
Whether there is a serious question to be tried
Adequacy of damages
Balance of convenience
Preservation of the status quo
Cross-undertaking in damages
Questions normally test application of the relevant threshold, rather than theoretical description.
11. Case management and allocation
Candidates must understand the overriding objective and the parties’ duty to help the court further it.
Know the basic features of:
Small claims track
Fast track
Intermediate track
Multi-track
Important considerations include:
Value
Complexity
Number of parties
Length of trial
Expert evidence
Importance of the claim
Parties’ circumstances
Also revise:
Directions questionnaires
Case-management directions
Costs and case-management conferences
Compliance with court orders
Sanctions
Applications for relief from sanctions
The three-stage Denton approach
12. Evidence
Candidates should know:
Civil burden of proof
Balance of probabilities
Relevance and admissibility
Hearsay and its procedural treatment
Weight versus admissibility
Presumptions and evidential burdens
Witness evidence
Understand:
Witness statements
Statements of truth
Affidavits
Witness summonses
Examination-in-chief
Cross-examination
Re-examination
Leading and non-leading questions
Expert evidence
Understand:
Expert evidence requires the court’s permission
The expert’s overriding duty is to the court
Single joint experts
Written questions to experts
Experts’ discussions and joint statements
Consequences of failing to comply with directions
13. Disclosure, inspection and privilege
Candidates must distinguish between:
Disclosure: stating that a document exists or has existed
Inspection: allowing the other party to examine it
Know:
Standard disclosure
Specific disclosure
Pre-action disclosure
Non-party disclosure
Electronic disclosure
The continuing duty of disclosure
A “document” includes electronic information and other material capable of recording information.
Particularly important are:
Legal advice privilege
Litigation privilege
Without-prejudice communications
Without-prejudice save as to costs communications
Common-interest privilege
Waiver of privilege
Inadvertent disclosure
Privilege prevents inspection, but the privileged document may still have to be disclosed by describing its existence appropriately.
14. Settlement and discontinuance
Candidates should understand:
Negotiated settlement
Consent orders
Tomlin orders
Discontinuance
Costs consequences of discontinuance
When court approval is needed, such as settlements involving children or protected parties
Contractual consequences of settlement
15. Part 36 offers
This is a high-priority SQE topic.
Candidates should know:
Formal requirements of a valid Part 36 offer
The relevant period
Acceptance within and after that period
Withdrawal and variation
Claimant and defendant offers
Consequences when a claimant fails to beat a defendant’s offer
Consequences when a claimant equals or beats their own offer
The court’s power to avoid the prescribed consequences where they would be unjust
Part 36 must be distinguished from ordinary settlement offers and “without prejudice save as to costs” offers.
16. Costs
Candidates should understand:
The general rule that the unsuccessful party pays the successful party’s costs
The court’s discretion
Conduct, partial success and settlement offers
Standard and indemnity bases
Summary and detailed assessment
Fixed recoverable costs
Costs budgets and costs management
Interim costs orders
Non-party costs
Security for costs
Costs consequences of procedural misconduct
Common orders include:
Costs in the case
Costs in any event
Claimant’s or defendant’s costs in the case
Costs reserved
No order as to costs
17. Trial and judgment
Candidates should know:
Pre-trial checklists
Pre-trial reviews
Trial bundles
Witness summonses
Basic order of a civil trial
Modes of address and courtroom etiquette
Examination of witnesses
Nature and effect of judgment
Interest and costs following judgment
18. Appeals
Know:
The requirement for permission to appeal
The appropriate appeal court
Grounds of appeal
Review rather than automatic rehearing
When a decision may be wrong or unjust because of procedural irregularity
The importance of time limits
Possible appellate orders
An appeal is not normally an opportunity simply to rerun the original case.
19. Enforcement of money judgments
Candidates should be able to choose the best enforcement mechanism by reference to the debtor’s assets and circumstances:
Writ or warrant of control
Third-party debt order
Charging order
Attachment of earnings order
Order to obtain information from a judgment debtor
Insolvency proceedings, where appropriate
The key is matching the remedy to the asset:
Debtor’s position
Likely enforcement method
Valuable goods
Writ or warrant of control
Money held by a bank or third party
Third-party debt order
Land, securities or certain valuable assets
Charging order
Regular employment income
Attachment of earnings
Assets are unknown
Order to obtain information
From 1 September 2026, the official blueprint replaces the older expression “oral examination” with “obtaining information from judgment debtor”. This is a terminology change, not a substantive new procedure. SRA September 2026 changes
What should be memorised precisely?
The strongest candidates memorise:
Limitation periods
Issuing and service deadlines
Response deadlines
Default judgment rules
Track thresholds and allocation principles
Tests for summary judgment, interim payment and injunctions
Relief-from-sanctions principles
Disclosure obligations
Categories of privilege
Part 36 requirements and consequences
Principal costs orders
Appeal routes and grounds
Enforcement methods
Everything else should be learned as an applied decision framework:
What does the client want?
What is the immediate procedural deadline?
What application, document or response is required?
What legal test applies?
What evidence is needed?
What costs or sanctions may follow?
Is the proposed action proportionate and ethically permissible?