Legal Practice Notes

Civil justice reform See our Practice Note, Civil justice reform in Scotland—virtual hearings and electronic submission of documents, for guidance on the current rules and practice in the Scottish civil courts concerning virtual hearings and the electronic signing, sending and lodging of documents. This Practice Note focuses on factual evidence in Scottish civil proceedings. It explains: what factual evidence may and may not be led how to gather factual evidence (and when this may not be required) disclosure obligations in Scottish civil litigation and the effect of legal professional privilege how to place factual evidence before the court how to present the evidence in court Certain actions have special procedures that can influence how factual evidence is handled; these are covered as well (excluding family actions, which are not discussed in this Practice Note). For guidance on: matters to...

This Practice Note offers guidance on completing the most frequently used application notice, form N244. It also explains how to interpret and apply the relevant CPR provisions. Depending on the court handling your case, you may need to consider further requirements—see the section Court specific guidance below. Notably, the Commercial Court and the Circuit Commercial Courts use their own versions of an application notice. For assistance, see Practice Note: The application notice in the Commercial Court—form N244( CC)... What is an application notice? An application notice is the document by which an applicant signals an intention to seek a court order ( CPR 23.1). A document will qualify as a valid application notice provided it: states the order sought and, in brief, the reasons for it ( CPR 23.6) is signed and sets out ( CPR PD 23A, para 2.1): ...

This Tracker reviews the Guideline Hourly Rates ( GHR). These are the figures the court looks to, on summary assessment, to decide whether a solicitor’s hourly charges are reasonable for civil and commercial work. A series of reviews has taken place and is summarised below. Uplift to GHR on 1 January 2026 The Master of the Rolls ( MR) confirmed that from 1 January 2026 the GHR will be adjusted for inflation in line with the Services Producer Price Index ( SPPI). For further information, see: LNB News 02/01/2026 10— Master of the Rolls updates solicitors’ guideline hourly rates for 2026. Uplift to GHR on 1 January 2025 The GHR rose for inflation on 1 January 2025 in accordance with the SPPI. For more detail, see: LNB News 02/01/2025 32— Master of the Rolls announces update to Guideline Hourly Rates. Uplift to GHR on 1 January 2024 The GHR were...

This Practice Note offers a perspective on how the court decides whether to grant extra time, illustrated by sample decisions. The leading authorities, which articulate the principles applied by the courts, are collected in Practice Note: Extending time for service of the claim form—principles. For practical guidance on issuing an application to extend time, see Practice Note: Extending time for service of the claim form—making an application... Extension of time granted or upheld The following judgments demonstrate the court’s approach when allowing additional time for service, or when declining to overturn an order that extended time... Crossroads Corporate Finance ( UK) LLP v Ontario Management Ltd [2025] EWHC 1011 ( Comm) — The claimants obtained three extensions to the original validity period of the claim form before serving a defendant in Germany. Once service occurred, that defendant challenged the first and second...

This Tracker compiles examples of costs rulings where the court has either imposed an issues‑based costs order or declined to do so. Such an order is unusual. When one is made, it is essential that the terms can be measured with clarity, because solicitors face real challenges when identifying the costs that relate to each individual issue, and clear parameters help the assessment process and any detailed apportionment required. Court makes an issues-based costs order—examples The following decisions illustrate occasions on which an issues‑based costs order was made. The most recent judgment appears first, providing a current example of the approach. Judgment, citation and news analysis: Montres Breguet SA v Samsung Electronics Co Ltd [2022] EWHC 1895 ( Ch) — Consideration: The judge cited Pigot v Environment Agency [2020] EWHC 1444 ( Ch), emphasising that an issues‑based costs order is not warranted simply because a party did not...

ARCHIVED : One persistent challenge for dispute resolution practitioners is staying current with case law developments that influence their speciality, or that bear on civil litigation procedure more broadly. This Practice Note distils the principal appeal authorities—namely rulings of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court and, where pertinent, selected judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union ( CJEU)—that we have covered, giving users straightforward access to those rulings; see: Key civil litigation appeals in review—2020. You can navigate this material via the table of contents in the left margin, or search this tracker with [ CTRL]+[ F]. The Practice Note also flags a number of anticipated appeals, where identified, to support horizon scanning. It is not designed to be a comprehensive catalogue of every appeal and/or significant decision of interest to dispute resolution...

This Practice Note examines the expression ‘deemed service’. The term appears in CPR 6.14, and this Practice Note explains its meaning and function when read alongside the period of validity for a claim form under CPR 7.6 as set out there. Be aware that the deemed date may not correspond or align with the real date on which the defendant actually receives the claim form in practice. For users of Money Claims online, CPR 6.14 does not apply at all. For further details, see: Deemed date of service for Money claims online below. Also note that the deemed service rules for a claim form in CPR 6.14 are distinct from the deemed service rules for other documents; those are contained in CPR 6.26. For help, see the Practice Notes: Serving the defence— Deemed service ( CPR 6.26) and Serving documents...

This tracker considers the case law on vicarious liability. These decisions show how the courts have treated this developing area. They are arranged chronologically to trace the doctrine’s growth. When liability is in issue, a claimant usually seeks to prove fault by a named defendant (in workplace matters, often the employer). Sometimes an alternative route exists—the employer’s vicarious liability for the acts or omissions of its employee or agent. It is called vicarious because the breach of duty is the employee’s. The employer’s liability is often described as strict; it arises without proof of any breach by the employer. As Gross LJ noted in Allen v Chief Constable of the Hampshire Constabulary, to succeed against a defendant on vicarious liability for an employee’s negligence, the claimant must meet a two-stage test: there must be a relationship between the employer and the tortfeasor...

This Practice Note This Practice Note explores the law of limitation in Scotland. For guidance on: the law of prescription in Scotland, consult Practice Notes: Prescription in Scotland and Short negative prescription in Scotland—the prescriptive period for obligations to pay damages other central areas of Scots law and procedure, refer to our Scotland collection the nearest equivalent in England and Wales, see Limitation: general—overview, which outlines the topic and links to more detailed guidance on various aspects of limitation in England and Wales Key AEVA 2018— Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 LR( MP)( S) A 1980— Law Reform ( Miscellaneous Provisions) ( Scotland) Act 1980 PL( S) A 1973— Prescription and Limitation ( Scotland) Act 1973 P( S) A 2018— Prescription ( Scotland) Act 2018 Difference between limitation and prescription in Scots law PL( S) A 1973, often called the ‘1973...

CPR 52.6(2)(b) superseded rule 52.3(7)(b), and CPR 52.18 replaced rule 52.9, in October 2016. The wording was unchanged, so authorities decided before October 2016 in this field remain binding. For broader guidance on applications for permission to appeal, see the following Practice Notes: Permission to appeal—preliminary considerations Permission to appeal—the application Permission to appeal—hearing and next steps For targeted guidance on limited permission to appeal, see Practice Note: Permission to appeal—hearing and next steps— Limited permission to appeal in the Court of Appeal. Conditions on an appeal—introduction There are two principal provisions regulating conditions on an appeal: CPR 52.6(2)(b) allows the court, when granting permission on a first appeal, to impose terms—that is, to give permission subject to conditions CPR 52.18(1)(c) permits the appeal court, when considering setting aside permission or striking out an appeal notice, to impose new...

This Practice Note examines how pivotal expert testimony and credibility are at trial, and therefore the weight the court may ascribe to expert material. It reviews why a court might prefer one expert’s opinion to another’s, when the court will choose between expert evidence and its own evaluation, what follows if an expert is neither called nor cross-examined, including the weight of unchallenged evidence, and offers practical guidance for giving expert evidence. Expert witnesses, and those instructing them, should have regard to: relevant CPR rules and Practice Directions the Guidance for the instruction of experts in civil claims (the Guidance). On 1 December 2014, the Guidance replaced the ‘ Protocol for the Instruction of Experts to give Evidence in Civil Claims’ formerly annexed to CPR PD 35 Practice Direction Pre- Action Conduct and Protocols, para 7 court-specific guidance found in court...

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived, not maintained, and offered for background reference only. In addition, certain links may no longer point to the provisions as they stood when the guidance in this Practice Note was issued. For details of earlier and/or later amendments to the CPR, see: CPR updates—overview and Procedure Rule Committee minutes—overview. This Practice Note outlines the amendments to Practice Directions contained in the 94th Making Document dated 30 January 2018, which took effect on Wednesday 7 February 2018. The following Practice Directions are amended: Practice Direction 8A— Alternative Procedure for Claims Practice Direction 59— Circuit Commercial Court Practice Direction 60— Technology and Construction Court Practice Direction 66— Crown Proceedings Practice Direction— Civil Recovery Proceedings Practice Direction— Business and Property Courts Practice Direction 8A— Alternative Procedure for...

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and no longer maintained. Jackson LJ’s ‘ Supplemental Report— Fixed Recoverable Costs’ In July 2017, Lord Justice Jackson issued a report after reviewing fixed recoverable costs ( FRC). Completed on schedule with input from 14 assessors, it sets out several recommendations, namely: rolling out a FRC regime across all fast-track matters creating an intermediate track to which FRC would attach, for cases of moderate complexity that would otherwise sit in the multi-track, valued up to £100,000 widening the current Aarhus Convention style capped-costs model from certain judicial review claims to encompass all judicial review claims For fuller discussion of Jackson LJ’s report, see News Analyses: Fixed recoverable costs report 2017—a summary of conclusions; Will Jackson’s fixed costs proposals deliver access to justice?; and Alert: Review of fixed recoverable costs...

If an accident has caused a claimant to lose entitlement to the state pension, there is, at first glance, a possible claim for that loss. Yet, to judge whether a claim is sustainable, the practitioner must confirm that a shortfall exists and, if so, pinpoint how the entitlement was lost... How does a person qualify for the state pension? To qualify for the state pension, a person must: have paid, or been credited with, National Insurance contributions have reached the state pension age The new state pension The label ‘new state pension’ is not merely a convenient phrase. While it is hardly ‘new’, the term matters because it separates the scheme from the earlier long-standing system. Anyone reaching state pension age on or after 6 April 2016 must claim the new state pension. Confusingly, however, the individual’s National Insurance record before 6 April 2016 is used to...

This Practice Note reviews Part 36 offers in split trial proceedings, highlighting the extra considerations that apply when proposing or responding to a Part 36, with particular emphasis on disclosure and the mechanics of acceptance. In addition, CPR 36.12, CPR 36.16(3)(d) and CPR 36.16(4) set out further, specific provisions that apply to Part 36 offers in the context of split trials... Why have specific provision for split trial cases? CPR 36.2(3) makes clear that a party may advance a Part 36 offer in relation to the whole claim, a part of it, any discrete issue arising within a claim, counterclaim or other additional claim, or an appeal or cross‑appeal from a determination made at trial. It is therefore expected that parties may table Part 36 offers confined to particular issue(s), capable of being determined at separate hearings. Illustrations include offers dealing solely with...

This Practice Note provides guidance on the interpretation and application of the relevant provisions of the CPR when seeking a stay. Depending on the court handling your case, additional rules may apply—see: Court specific guidance. It addresses when the court may impose a stay and the steps to remove it. It also sets out situations in which a party might seek a stay, for example to facilitate: a challenge to jurisdiction in a cross-border dispute arbitral proceedings settlement discussions awaiting the result of other proceedings, including linked criminal cases time to meet a procedural step or court direction In some circumstances, CPR 15.11 provides for an automatic stay of the claim—see Practice Note: Stay of civil proceedings—automatic stay under CPR 15.11. For guidance on staying an order or judgment while an appeal is pending, see Practice Note: Grounds for...

Scope of this Practice Note This Practice Note sets out advice on initiating appeals in both the County Court and the High Court. Its emphasis is on lodging and serving the appellant’s notice, and on seeking extra time for doing so where required. It further addresses applications for permission to appeal in the County Court and the High Court under CPR PD 52B, and explains that an applicant may ask for an oral reconsideration of a permission decision. Be aware that distinct rules govern appeals arising from contempt matters. For further information, see Practice Note: Civil contempt proceedings—appeals, purges and discharge. Guidance is also provided on the provisions in CPR PD 52B, which regulate appeals in the County Court and High Court, operating alongside CPR 52 and the other practice directions within Part 52. This Practice Note should be read together with the general...

Specific conventions should be observed when speaking to members of the judiciary at all times...