Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Avoiding Litigation in Commercial Contract Disputes: Relationship Management, Contract Analysis, Termination, ADR, Costs, Pre-action Protocols, and Disclosure Duties (England and Wales)

Published by a LexisNexis Dispute Resolution expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note on avoiding civil litigation sets out what to weigh up and what to do as a contractual dispute develops, so as to reduce the likelihood of the matter progressing to court proceedings (litigation) in England and Wales.

For related guidance, see Practice Note: Resolving a dispute—initial considerations.

Why avoid litigation?(the ‘litigation cost’)

Litigators do not always acknowledge it, but for many clients, once a contract dispute is litigated (ie ‘we go to court’), there is, to some extent, already a failure.

The reason is that the overall ‘litigation cost’ can be immense, including:

financial outlay—covering the client’s fees with you (and any experts needed to support their case) and, potentially, the other side’s costs too (see Practice Note: Costs orders—the general rule)
lost management time—with senior personnel and other staff diverted from productive business work while meeting the demands of the process (the disclosure exercise, drafting witness statements, giving evidence in court)
reputational harm—even a successful outcome at court may still harm reputation, which can be a key consideration for...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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