2324 Dis ws01 Ce01 Guide
2324 Dis ws01 Ce01 Guide
Unit 1
Guide
Pre-action steps: (1) case analysis; (2) ADR; (3) funding
Context
Introduction
Dispute resolution neither begins nor ends in a courtroom. The journey to a trial is
potentially a long one and there are many things to consider on the way. In this Unit
and its associated Tasks you will explore some crucial pre-action steps including
basic case analysis, matters of funding, options for Alternative Dispute Resolution
(ADR) and the requirements of the SRA Code of Conduct, the Practice Direction on
Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols, and the Professional Negligence Pre-Action
Protocol.
A key question for any dispute resolution lawyer is: “what are my client’s objectives?”
One client might want to minimise costs or to preserve a business relationship with
its opponent. Another might care more about protecting its public image or setting a
binding precedent. What the client actually wants will influence everything from
funding to possible ADR and from first steps to trial strategy. Establishing, recording
and keeping up-to-date with the client’s true objectives is therefore a vital skill.
Case analysis
Case analysis underpins any litigation matter. It involves not just identification of
relevant causes of action but also an awareness of risk and strategy, taking into
account the client’s objectives. Often, and quite correctly, case analysis will produce
more questions than answers, but without it (or if it is done incorrectly) wrong
decisions can be taken early in a case that are difficult and expensive to reverse
later.
Clients can like the idea of having their “day in court”, but traditional litigation remains
expensive and fairly risky. Many alternatives exist, and proper legal advice will take
into account that one or more of these may better achieve a given client’s objectives.
Funding
Most clients care a great deal about how much their matter will cost, and the range of
funding options is now wider than just the traditional hourly charge-out rate. In order
to give proper advice on funding a dispute resolution lawyer should understand and
be able to explain concepts such as conditional fee agreements, damages-based
agreements and both before-the-event and after-the-event insurance.
1. Be able to carry out initial steps in a dispute resolution matter, including case
analysis.
2. Understand and be able to explain alternative methods of dispute resolution,
and their appropriateness on a given set of facts.
3. Understand and be able to explain funding options in a dispute resolution
matter.
4. Understand the requirements and effect of the Practice Direction – Pre-Action
Conduct and Protocols and the Professional Negligence Pre-Action Protocol.
Preparation
Read the following from the CLP Textbook, “Civil Litigation” (Browne). All of this
reading should be regarded as necessary to the course (and some parts will be
revisited at a later time), but you may find the parts shown in brackets on the
right-hand-side of the list particularly relevant and useful when attempting the
Tasks associated with this Unit Workshop.
Chapter 1 (1.4)
Chapter 2 (2.3; 2.4 up to 2.4.5; 2.5;
2.9 up to 2.9.4, plus the Case Study)
Chapter 3 (3.2 to 3.3; 3.4.4; 3.7; 3.10 to 3.14)
Chapter 4 (4.1 to 4.4; 4.6 to 4.7)
Chapter 11.9 to 11.10 (all)
Chapter 12.13.1 (all)
Chapter 13.2 to 13.3 (all)
Chapter 14.3.3.6 (all)
Appendices A(19) to A(20) (Appendix A(19))
Appendices C(1) to C(3) (all)
Appendix D(1) (all)
Briefly review your notes from the Introduction to Professional Practice course
as to whether solicitors are able to give financial advice to their clients.
No solicitors are not allowed to give financial advice to clients.
Via the Ministry of Justice (or GOV.UK) website, find and read the following Civil
Procedure Rules:
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CPR rule 1
Complete the Unit Workshop Preparatory Task attached to this Unit Guide,
including any relevant legal research.
Do not attempt any of the Unit Workshop Tasks or the Consolidation Tasks until
you reach the Unit Workshop and Consolidation stages.
Consolidation
It is important that you consolidate your learning. In particular for Unit Workshop 1
you should:
1. Review your Preparatory Task in light of the feedback you received and the
discussions that took place in the Unit Workshop.
2. Satisfy yourself that you understand and can explain:
Different options for funding a dispute resolution matter.
The operation and potential suitability of different methods of dispute
resolution.
4. Complete the Consolidation Tasks attached to this Unit Guide.
5. Complete the Test and Feedback (Consolidation) for this Unit.
Please note that the case study used in this Unit will recur in Units 2, 4 and 12. You
may wish to keep the documents (or copies) in a separate file for ease of access.
You are a trainee solicitor in the dispute resolution team at ULaws LLP’s Leeds
office.
Read the attached email from your supervising solicitor and follow his
instructions.
To help you with the Preparatory Task, a case analysis grid in Word format has
been created for you to download from Elite. A small amount of information has
already been entered on the grid for you. You should fill in the remainder.
Completing the case analysis grid will assist you in organising and structuring
your thoughts in a way that should become automatic on this course and when
you are in practice. Please note therefore that the grid is a teaching and
learning aid only. It is not a document that you would typically produce within a
firm. You would not send it to a client. You should not produce a grid as an
answer to a final assessment question unless expressly instructed to do so.
Please also note that the number of rows included on the blank grid is neither a
minimum nor a maximum. You should use your own judgement to break the
analysis down into what you think are an appropriate number of parts.
Important Notes about “generic” dates used on the Dispute Resolution course:
In the attached email, and in several case studies during the Dispute Resolution
course, events are set in a generic year beginning “xx”. You will be supplied
with calendars for years “xx18” and “xx19” at points in the course where they
are first needed; you should not assume that a calendar for the current actual
year will be applicable.
Assessments on the LPC may use actual dates and real years within their fact
patterns. Such dates cannot be assumed to correspond with any generic
calendar with which you have been supplied. It is your responsibility to bring to
the final assessment any calendar(s) that you might require as part of your
permitted materials for that assessment.
Last week I spoke with Alison Branning, a director of Clarke & Sons Limited
(Clarkes). Clarkes is a long-standing client of the firm and regularly instructs us on
commercial matters, but this is the first time it has come to us in a litigation context.
Please review the attached proof of evidence (with attached documents) signed by
Alison and returned to me today. You will then need to carry out some tasks.
Please:
You will need to research the relevant law (although I do not expect it to be
complex: this seems to be a straightforward goods and services contract) and
consider what further factual information and documentary evidence we require.
Your case analysis isn’t just an academic exercise. Your findings (subject to
any further information we need from the client) are likely to be used as the
basis for determining what the next steps in this case should be, and / or writing
a formal letter of advice.
If the client ends up making a claim against DMS it will involve a lot of work for
us, and we will start running up costs very rapidly. So will any solicitor DMS
decides to instruct. There will also be disbursements, and later on probably
counsel’s fees as well.
This means I will very soon need to have a serious discussion with the client
about funding, and I will need you to refresh and confirm my understanding
before I do so. Don’t forget about insurance either, especially when it comes to
CFAs and DBAs: those funding methods don’t necessarily deal with everything
that presents a financial risk to the client.
Regards,
James
4. The timing was perfect, as Zeno had recently finished recording a feature-length
reality TV show (“Shooting Star”) for which cameras had followed him and his
family for a number of months. Shooting Star was due to air that summer.
DMS knew that Shooting Star and the Biography featured the same person, and
that we were therefore keen to get the Biography on the shelves by June xx18
to catch what was expected to be a huge market. The Biography was to retail
for £25.00 a copy.
5. We entered into a contract for the publication of the Biography [not produced
for the purposes of this case study] and agreed that the first print run would
be 500,000 copies. This is rather larger than our normal first print run but, as
I’ve explained, we expected the Biography to be a huge success given the hype
surrounding Zeno and Shooting Star.
6. Although Clarkes publish books, we do not print and bind them ourselves. The
company we normally use for printing and binding is DMS (Printers &
Bookbinders) Limited (“DMS”). We have used them for many years without a
problem. My contact there is Jonathan Friedman, who is their Director of
Contracts. I spoke to him and we ultimately entered into a contract in February
xx18 [copy attached] for the printing and binding of 500,000 copies of the
Biography with laminated hardback covers (“the Finished Books”) for a total
price of £325,000 including VAT. We agreed that the Finished Books would be
printed in time to send to retail outlets from the end of May, so that we could
promote them heavily prior to Shooting Star being aired.
7. Everything seemed to go well and according to plan. Whilst the Finished Books
were being printed and bound our Quality Control department, headed by
Emma Carter, received the dummy and example copies supplied in accordance
with clause 3 of the contract. Emma was very pleased: these finished examples
of the Biography were satisfactorily glossy and attractive and it was anticipated
that the Finished Books would attract great interest from the public.
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8. The printing and binding of the Finished Books was completed towards the end
of May xx18. As publishers, we do not have storage facilities for such large
quantities of books. We therefore entered into a contract with Thompsons
Limited (“Thompsons”) who own a large number of warehouses locally. I
definitely have a copy of this storage contract on file somewhere, but Clarkes
are in the middle of a big administrative clear-out (the shredders are running
hot) so I don’t have it immediately to hand. Thompsons agreed to store the
Finished Books plus any reprints for six months.
10. As we anticipated, the level of public interest in the footballer meant that there
was a clamour for products associated with him. During mid-June we
distributed some of the Finished Books to retailers. The rest of the Finished
Books were to be held in Thompsons’ warehouse pending further demand.
11. Almost immediately after the first delivery to retailers we started getting
complaints about the quality of the Finished Books. There was clearly some
sort of technical issue which meant that the glossy laminate on the covers of the
Finished Books was wrinkled and in places had come away from the hard cover
itself. Emma looked at and tested a number of copies that had been returned
by various retailers, and found the same problem when she opened some of the
boxes still in the warehouse. We decided that the Finished Books could not be
sold.
12. I rang Jonathan Friedman, with whom I have always got on well. On this
occasion he was very sympathetic, but said that the problem couldn’t have been
anything to do with DMS, as nothing like this had happened between us before.
As a throwaway comment he wondered if there might be some issue with our
own facilities. I was adamant that there was not. I had a gut feeling that the
issue had to be something to do with DMS’ binding process – a point that, in
hindsight, I should probably have pressed much harder from the start. I asked if
DMS could perform an additional print run as this was something of an
emergency, but Jonathan said that unfortunately his production schedule was
completely full. Clarkes had quite a few other contracts with DMS (some of
them are ongoing even now), but Jonathan said none were being processed at
that point so nothing could be “bumped” to make room.
13. The distributed Finished Books were withdrawn from sale and virtually all copies
in our possession were donated to a charity that sends books out to the
developing world. That is what we usually do with books that cannot be sold in
the UK for one reason or another. Clarkes adopted this policy after a much less
serious incident 2 years ago when a different printer accidentally produced a
collection of children’s stories containing a chapter from a book on antiques. I
did make some new enquiries this time, just in case, but it became clear that the
14. I was still sure there must be a binding problem, so I immediately commissioned
a report on the Finished Books from an outside expert, Professor Harding. We
have used him before. Although my principal concern was with the Finished
Books, I was also worried that production problems at DMS could affect other
books that it was printing and binding for us. Unfortunately, due to Professor
Harding’s heavy workload, he has not yet finalised his report but assures me
that it will be completed in the coming week.
15. By clause 5 of the contract, the first instalment of the contract price was payable
on delivery of the Finished Books to the warehouse. The remainder of the price
was payable on the airing of Shooting Star (scheduled for July xx18) or by 26
July xx18 at the latest. We had paid the first instalment before the problems
with the Finished Books became apparent, but I do not see why we should be
bound to pay the second when the Finished Books’ quality was so poor.
16. Given the situation with DMS we had to have the printing and binding of another
500,000 copies of the Biography done by another company, International
Printing (London) Limited at a cost of £375,000 including VAT. I did not
negotiate this contract and have no details of it to hand but, again, I am sure a
copy will be on file. The Biography eventually went on the market in the middle
of September xx18, over 6 weeks after Shooting Star had aired.
17. Clarkes’ in-house accounts department have discussed with me the profit and
loss accounts for the last 18 months and the profit forecasts prepared in early
xx18 based on expected sales of the Finished Books. Quite aside from the
money we have already paid out on the contract with DMS, our overall loss of
profit arising from their failure to provide saleable Finished Books is put at
£542,275. We are very fortunate that there do not seem to have been any
lasting commercial ill-effects from this debacle, so the figure for loss of profits
can be regarded as final.
18. This whole thing is a bit of a nuisance – everyone at Clarkes is as busy as they
have ever been – but I am sure that we have the resources and the will to
pursue DMS with appropriate vigour. There’s too much money at stake to let
them off the hook, and if we can recover everything we have lost quickly and
definitively I’m sure it will all seem worthwhile in the end. Given the extra
printing and the lost profits, on a rough calculation I think we are out-of-pocket
by over £900,000. Some public vindication would also be nice given how
embarrassed we were in front of our retailers: we’ve worked with DMS for a
long time and they do give us the occasional discount as a result, but they
ought to realise that they aren’t the only company that can do what they do.
Alison Branning
ALISON BRANNING
27 September xx18
PARTIES
OTHER DEFINITIONS
TERMS
1. The Publisher engages the Printer to provide printing, binding and delivery
services in respect of the Biography.
2. The Printer shall print and bind 500,000 copies of the Biography in hardback on
A3 paper with a laminated cover (hereafter: “the Finished Books”)
3. The Printer agrees to submit the following to the Publisher for approval:
(a) Dummy printed and bound copies of the Biography by no later than 3 May
xx18.
(b) Example printed and bound copies of the Biography by no later than 17
May xx18.
4. The Printer agrees to deliver the Finished Books to the Publisher on or before
26 May xx18, time being of the essence for this matter.
(b) £200,000 on airing of the television show “Shooting Star” (scheduled for
July xx18) but in any event by no later than 26 July xx18.
6. The Printer shall not disclose, reveal or make public except to the professional
advisers of the Printer any information whatsoever concerning the Biography or
the business of the Publisher or this Contract all of which shall be strictly
confidential nor shall the Printer make any public statement or press statement
in connection with the Biography or the publication of the Finished Books.
8. This Contract shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of
England and Wales whose courts shall be the courts of competent jurisdiction.
9. The time limit for making any claim in respect of goods and services provided
by the Printer to the Publisher shall be twelve months from the date of delivery
of the goods. For the avoidance of doubt this clause replaces the provisions of
the Limitation Act 1980.
SIGNED
by a director duly authorised by the Publisher.
Alison Branning
SIGNED
by a director duly authorised by the Printer.
Jonathan Friedman
Unit Task 1
James Maxwell tells you he will invite Alison Branning to attend ULaws’ offices this
week. He asks you to prepare a short presentation for him and Alison on the subject
of “options for dispute resolution”.
James tells you that the aim of the presentation is to help Alison decide which
method(s) of dispute resolution should be pursued on the facts, and in what order or
combination. The presentation should therefore:
James tells you that, in identifying a given client’s needs and objectives in a dispute
resolution matter, considerations might include any or all of:
More formal are arbiteration however there is a big push from courts to use ADR
Prepare the presentation for James and Alison.
Alison Branning of Clarkes and your supervisor James Maxwell have arranged to
meet at ULaws’ offices. As a priority, Alison wishes to explore options for Clarkes’
funding of its potential claim against DMS.
James will begin the meeting. Instructions for the two roles are on the following two
pages. During the exercise you should look at the instructions relevant to your
role only.
[Note that if, at any time, you need James to explain something again or in more
detail, you should respectfully and politely ask him to do so.]
You would like James to begin by going through the essentials of all the possible
funding options. In particular, you would like to know more about:
[If James asks] Clarkes has no insurance policies that would fund its claim against
DMS, nor are there any third-party organisations that would privately fund the case.
When James has given his initial explanation, ask him the following questions
[unless his initial explanation has already answered them].
Your nephew, who watches a lot of legal dramas on television, has told you some
things about CFAs that you would like to check. Ask James if it is true that:
Under a CFA, if Clarkes were to win its claim against DMS, ULaws LLP would
be able to charge Clarkes several hundred percent of the normal legal fees?
o Is such a percentage the same for every client?
You have also vaguely heard about “Damages-Based Agreements”. Ask James:
do these involve a solicitor taking all of its client’s damages instead of charging fees?
Tell James that Clarkes’ big document clear-out is going well. If any turn up
that harm a claim against DMS you will make sure “accidentally” to shred
them.
During the meeting you must at least explain to Alison the various funding and
insurance options that are available, and how they operate. ULaws LLP does offer a
full range of funding options to its clients.
Partner: £350
Assistant: £220
Trainee: £150
Given the nature of the case (and as Clarkes is a business), Clarkes will not be
eligible for public funding.
You have not yet carried out a full risk assessment in relation to the case and will not
properly be able to do so until you receive some further documents from Alison,
including Professor Harding’s report.
[In the unlikely event that Alison asks for advice on which specific insurance provider
Clarkes should use, tell her that you “cannot do this as ULaws LLP is not regulated
by the FCA”. This is in fact a point of professional conduct and regulation that you will
address on your IPP course.]
From memory only to begin with, try to answer the following short questions about
the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols (PD-PAC). When you
have attempted all the questions, check your answer to each question against the
paragraph of the PD-PAC indicated in brackets. There is no “sample answer” for this
Task or the next, as such samples would merely replicate the wording of the
paragraphs indicated and these are already set out in Appendices to your Civil
Litigation Textbook.
4. How would you describe the general nature of steps that should be taken,
and costs that might be incurred, in complying with the PD-PAC?
(paragraph 4-5)
5. Where the PD-PAC applies, what specific steps should a claimant and a
defendant each typically take before proceedings are commenced?
(paragraph 6)
6. If a party decides for itself to seek “expert” advice about the subject-matter
of a dispute, will that party automatically be allowed to rely on the expert’s
evidence at trial? (paragraph 7)
8. What should parties do next if a dispute has not been resolved after
following the PD-PAC (or another pre-action protocol)? (paragraph 12)
10. What can the court do if one or more parties fails to comply with the PD-
PAC or a relevant pre-action protocol? (paragraphs 15-16)
12. Name as many of the pre-action protocols for specific types of dispute as
you are able. (paragraph 18)
Make sure you appreciate that, whilst the PN-PAP and the PD-PAC (and indeed all
pre-action protocols) have a similar overall aim, they will apply in different factual
circumstances and contain somewhat different requirements. So whilst paragraphs
2, 10, 11 and 13 of the PN-PAP may seem broadly familiar from your work on
Consolidation Task 1, paragraphs 1 and 6 of the PN-PAP are clearly more specific
and detailed than their PD-PAC counterparts. Paragraphs 5, 7 and 8 of the PN-PAP
are more different still, setting out as they do extra requirements and distinct time
periods (“21 days”; “3 months”).
Please note that the term “letter of claim” is not unique to the PN-PAP, so that in any
given situation the use of one does not necessarily imply the applicability of the other.
For the purpose of the Dispute Resolution course you may also regard “letter of
claim” as being synonymous with other similar (or historical) terminology you may
encounter, such as “letter before claim”.