The steps parties must take before issuing proceedings — exchanging information, considering settlement and behaving reasonably — and the costs consequences of getting it wrong.
Litigation conduct is judged before a claim form is ever issued, and non-compliance at this stage can shape costs orders long after. This chapter explains what pre-action protocols are, why they exist and how far they bind the parties, before working through the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct as the default regime — the letter of claim, the defendant's response and the timeframes that apply. It then looks at proportionality and the standard the court applies to compliance, the expectation that parties consider ADR and the risks of an unreasonable refusal to mediate, and how specific protocols for personal injury and debt claims depart from the default. It closes with the interaction between protocol steps and limitation periods, and the sanctions the court can impose for non-compliance.
