How to Win Your Case

How to Win Your Case is a guide for all those presenting a case before a tribunal or court, both to make a claim and to defend it, including people acting for themselves. It covers all aspects of litigation from basic understanding to how to conduct investigations, negotiations, pleadings, preparations, case management, conducting the hearing and dealing with the aftermath. Based on 35 years of the authors experience in courts and tribunals, the book covers the conduct of all kinds of civil litigation and contains examples of what needs to be done at each stage, and guidance on how to do so. This includes tips on how to ask questions, to avoid pitfalls, and to deal with mistakes, with expert techniques for each. To add practical insight, it also contains a helpful case study giving a practical illustration of the conduct of a case before the Employment Tribunal. This includes a Claim Form, Response, documents, statements, draft initial submissions, draft questions for witnesses (examination in chief and cross examination), draft final submissions and an indication of what a judgment might look like. The book does not promise success, but gives advice on how to conduct the case as effectively as possible. Although based on UK principles, this is a helpful guide for the conduct of civil litigation throughout the English-speaking world, where the principles are essentially the same. Its practical, rather than academic, approach avoids legal jargon where possible, making How to Win Your Case easy to understand and essential for those with only some, or even no, legal experience.