SQE1 · Subject page 2 · 8 min read

SQE1 FLK1 subject notes: choosing between arbitration, mediation and litigation, limitation, pre-action conduct, issuing and serving a claim, responding, statements of case, interim applications, case management, evidence, disclosure, trial, costs, appeals and enforcement.

What this subject covers

The SRA specification follows a civil claim from start to finish: the merits and the choice of process (arbitration, mediation, litigation); pre-action steps; issuing, serving and responding to a claim; statements of case; interim applications; case management; evidence and disclosure; trial; costs; appeals; and enforcing a money judgment. Most of the law is in the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) and their Practice Directions. Questions often turn on a time limit, a test the court applies, or the correct next step.

Key principles

Choosing a process

• Litigation: public, binding, with appeals and the court's enforcement powers.
• Arbitration (Arbitration Act 1996): private and consensual; the parties choose the tribunal; the award is binding, with limited grounds of challenge in the courts, and can be enforced in the many states party to the New York Convention.
• Mediation: a neutral helps the parties negotiate; nothing binds them unless they sign a settlement. The court may order parties to engage in ADR where that is proportionate and does not impair the right to a hearing (Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil CBC), and an unreasonable refusal can lead to costs penalties.

Before issuing

• Limitation (Limitation Act 1980): contract, six years from breach (s 5); tort, six years from damage (s 2); personal injury, three years from the injury or the date of knowledge (ss 11, 14); latent damage in negligence, an extra three years from knowledge with a 15-year longstop (ss 14A, 14B). Time does not run against a child until 18. The day the cause of action accrues is excluded.
• Pre-action conduct: the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct and the specific protocols expect the parties to exchange information, consider ADR and try to settle. Failure can be punished in costs and interest, or by a stay.
• Where to issue: a money claim may start in the High Court only if worth more than 100,000 pounds (50,000 pounds for personal injury) (PD 7A). The Business and Property Courts and other specialist lists take particular types of claim.

Issuing and serving

• Proceedings start when the court issues a claim form (CPR 7.2).
• Within the jurisdiction, the claimant must take the step required for service (for example, posting) before midnight on the calendar day four months after issue (CPR 7.5); six months for service out of the jurisdiction.
• A claim form is deemed served on the second business day after that step (CPR 6.14). Particulars of claim, if served separately, must follow within 14 days and within the four-month period (CPR 7.4).
• The court may permit service by an alternative method (CPR 6.15).

Responding

• Acknowledgment of service: 14 days after service of the particulars.
• Defence: 14 days after service of the particulars, or 28 days if an acknowledgment is filed (CPR 15.4). The parties may agree an extension of up to 28 days, notifying the court (CPR 15.5).
• Default judgment may be entered if the defendant fails to acknowledge or defend. It must be set aside if wrongly entered (CPR 13.2) and may be set aside if the defendant shows a real prospect of defending or some other good reason, acting promptly (CPR 13.3).
• A defendant may admit all or part of a claim (Part 14), counterclaim, or bring an additional claim against a third party for contribution or indemnity, without permission if issued with its defence (Part 20; CPR 20.7).

Statements of case

The claim form, particulars, defence, reply and any Part 20 claim set out each party's case and must be verified by a statement of truth. A party may ask for clarification or more information by written request (Part 18). After service a statement of case may be amended only with the written consent of all parties or the court's permission (CPR 17.1).

Interim applications

Made by application notice with evidence (Part 23).

• Summary judgment (Part 24): the respondent has no real prospect of success, and there is no other compelling reason for a trial. A real prospect is one that is more than fanciful (Swain v Hillman).
• Interim payments (CPR Part 25): for example where liability is admitted; the court must not order more than a reasonable proportion of the likely final judgment.
• Interim injunctions (American Cyanamid v Ethicon): a serious question to be tried; whether damages would be adequate for either side; the balance of convenience; normally a cross-undertaking in damages.
• Security for costs (CPR Part 25): for example where the claimant is a company and there is reason to believe it could not pay the defendant's costs.

Case management

• The overriding objective is to deal with cases justly and at proportionate cost (CPR 1.1).
• Tracks (Part 26): small claims (generally up to 10,000 pounds), fast track (over 10,000 up to 25,000 pounds, trial of one day, limited experts), intermediate track (over 25,000 up to 100,000 pounds, trial of up to three days), multi-track (the rest).
• Directions set the timetable; costs and case management conferences manage complex cases; costs budgets are required in most multi-track cases.
• Sanctions and relief: relief from sanctions is decided under CPR 3.9 using the three stages in Denton v TH White Ltd: how serious the breach was, why it happened, and all the circumstances.

Evidence

• The burden of proof is on the party asserting; the standard is the balance of probabilities.
• Witness statements stand as evidence in chief (CPR 32.5).
• Hearsay is admissible (Civil Evidence Act 1995, s 1); failing to give notice affects weight and costs, not admissibility (s 2(4)).
• Experts (Part 35) need the court's permission; their overriding duty is to the court (CPR 35.3). A single joint expert may be instructed by each party, with copies to the other (CPR 35.8).

Disclosure and privilege

• Standard disclosure (CPR 31.6): documents a party relies on, and documents that adversely affect its own or another's case or support another's case. Different rules apply in the Business and Property Courts.
• Privilege: legal advice privilege (lawyer and client, for advice); litigation privilege (confidential communications with third parties when litigation is reasonably in contemplation, for the dominant purpose of that litigation). Privileged documents are listed but withheld from inspection. A privileged document disclosed by mistake may be used only with the court's permission (CPR 31.20).
• Without prejudice communications made in a genuine attempt to settle are not admissible to prove liability; "without prejudice save as to costs" letters can be shown to the court on costs.

Trial and costs

• Pre-trial checklists, trial bundles and witness summonses prepare the case for trial.
• Costs: the loser usually pays the winner's costs (CPR 44.2). On the standard basis costs must be proportionate and doubts favour the paying party; on the indemnity basis there is no proportionality test and doubts favour the receiving party (CPR 44.3).
• Part 36 offers: if a claimant fails to beat a defendant's offer, it usually pays the defendant's costs from the end of the relevant period (21 days or more). If a claimant beats its own offer, it usually gets enhanced interest, indemnity costs and an additional amount of 10% of damages up to 500,000 pounds (CPR 36.17).
• QOCS: in personal injury claims, costs orders against a claimant can be enforced without permission only up to the damages, interest and costs ordered or agreed in the claimant's favour, unless an exception applies (CPR 44.13 to 44.17).

Appeals and enforcement

• Appeals (Part 52): permission is usually required; the appellant's notice is filed within 21 days; an appeal from a district judge goes to a circuit judge, and from a circuit judge to a High Court judge; the appeal court asks whether the decision was wrong or unjust because of a serious procedural or other irregularity.
• Enforcement: an order to obtain information about the debtor's means (Part 71); a third party debt order, for example against a bank account (Part 72); a charging order over land, with a later order for sale (Part 73); a writ or warrant of control over goods; an attachment of earnings order.

Worked example

On 2 February 2026 Kiln Ltd supplied tiles worth 40,000 pounds to a builder, who has not paid. Kiln Ltd's solicitor:

1. Sends a letter before claim with the key documents, giving a reasonable time to respond and suggesting ADR (Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct). Limitation is no problem: six years from breach.
2. Issues in the County Court, as the claim is worth less than 100,000 pounds. The claim is likely to go to the intermediate track if defended.
3. Serves the claim form by first class post well within four months of issue; it is deemed served on the second business day after posting.
4. The builder files an acknowledgment and a defence alleging only that the tiles "may have been defective". Kiln Ltd applies for summary judgment: a bare denial has no real prospect of success.
5. Before the hearing Kiln Ltd makes a Part 36 offer to accept 36,000 pounds. If it wins 40,000 pounds at trial, it can expect indemnity costs and enhanced interest from the end of the relevant period.
6. If the judgment is not paid, Kiln Ltd seeks an order to obtain information, then a third party debt order or a charging order as the assets disclosed allow.

Scope follows the SRA's SQE1 Functioning Legal Knowledge Assessment Specification (FLK1, Dispute Resolution). The notes are our own summary, not SRA material. Law of England and Wales as at 1 September 2026 (the SRA assesses the law as it stands four calendar months before the first assessment in a window).