The period between directions and the trial date is where cases are won or lost on the practical detail. A solicitor must make sure every step is completed — the right documents filed, witnesses ready, issues narrowed, and deadlines met — so the hearing can go ahead effectively. Get this wrong and you risk wasted costs, an adjournment, or even losing the chance to put your case at all.
This lesson takes you through that preparation in the order it tends to happen in practice:
- Pre-Trial Steps and the Court's Role — the procedural steps to ready a case, plus pre-trial checklists and reviews.
- Trial Bundles and Skeleton Arguments — what goes in the bundle, who prepares it, and how skeletons frame the argument.
- Witnesses — serving statements on time, compelling reluctant witnesses, and the consequences of ignoring a summons.
- Admissions and Authenticity — using notices to admit facts and the deemed-admission rule for disclosed documents.
- Relief from Sanctions and Adjournments — the three-stage test, agreed extensions, and when the court will move a trial.
- Non-Attendance and Setting Aside Judgment — what the court can do if a party is absent, and how a judgment may be set aside.