Starting a claim or counterclaim

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Overview of the litigation process in England and Wales

For an overview of the litigation process in England and Wales, see Practice Note: Overview of the litigation process in England and Wales. This includes details of the stages of a dispute, from pre-action considerations through to starting a claim, trial, enforcement and appeal, together with the relevant cost and funding implications. It also considers case and cost management of claims by the court, witness and expert evidence, obtaining injunctions and methods of ending a claim, including by settlement. This Practice Note has been drafted to be free of any unexplained jargon and without links through to other documents, so that it can be used as the basis for a letter to a client. For links through to content that is relevant to the main stages of litigation in England and Wales, see Practice Note: Overview of the litigation process in England and Wales—related documents, which uses the same headings as in Practice Note: Overview of the litigation process in England and Wales.

Pre-action considerations

In the event that you have a potential claim,

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