Independent, practical help for litigants in person in England & Wales.
498 articles
Written by John Barwell
With the Acas early conciliation period now able to run to twelve weeks, the tribunal deadline is a computed date, not a guessed one. This worked-arithmetic guide runs three fact patterns – unfair dismissal, discrimination and unpaid wages – through the Day A and Day B rules, shows exactly where the one-month floor bites, and sets out the calendar discipline a claimant needs, including what changes when six-month limits arrive on 1 October 2026.
Written by John Barwell
More than £60 million of client money went missing when Axiom Ince collapsed in October 2023. This analysis traces the SRA’s post-collapse consumer protection programme through its own consultation and response papers: the client money reforms now awaiting approval, the Compensation Fund decisions already taken, and the rules a client of a failed firm can rely on today.
Written by John Barwell
Three digital systems now sit between a claimant and the County Court, each with its own rulebook. Online Civil Money Claims is live and mainstream; the damages claims service is a pilot closed to litigants in person; Money Claim Online endures as the legacy layer. This inventory, built from the practice directions and official sources, maps which portal your claim belongs in.
Written by John Barwell
You can bring a helper to a civil hearing, and the court needs good reason to stop you. But a McKenzie friend advises you; they do not speak for you. This guide maps the line between support and representation — the 2010 Practice Guidance, the reserved legal activities a helper must not touch, the separate grant needed for speaking rights, what paid McKenzie friends may lawfully charge for, and the conduct that gets lay helpers excluded.
Written by John Barwell
Civil courts in England & Wales can now order parties into non-court dispute resolution, and the Civil Procedure Rules were amended in October 2024 to match. This guide explains the difference between the automatic small claims mediation scheme and the general Churchill power, the costs risk of refusing to engage, and how to prepare for a mediation appointment without legal representation.
Written by John Barwell
Missed a directions deadline? The sanction takes effect automatically, and the way back is an application for relief from sanctions under CPR 3.9. This guide follows one worked breach – a late witness statement – through the three Denton stages, the application notice and the witness statement in support, and explains why it is a different remedy from setting aside a default judgment.
Written by John Barwell
Moving a listed Employment Tribunal hearing takes a formal application, not a diary note. This guide explains the rule 32 test in the 2024 Rules, what the presidential guidance expects a postponement request to contain, and the timing and evidence that decide whether it succeeds.
Written by John Barwell
A default judgment is not the end of a case. Part 13 of the Civil Procedure Rules builds in two routes back — one mandatory, one discretionary — and the route you take decides what you must prove. This guide sets out both routes, the promptness requirement the rule itself names, and the evidence an application has to carry.
Written by John Barwell
The structural reform campaigners proposed has not happened: the Office of the Whistleblower Bill fell when the 2024–26 session ended, and no whistleblowing bill is before the current Parliament. But the law has not stood still — sexual harassment is now an express qualifying disclosure, the prescribed-persons list has been expanded twice, and tribunal time limits are about to double. An evidence-led state of play, measured against what reformers asked for.
Written by John Barwell
Complaining about a lawyer is a two-stage process governed by three clocks: the firm’s eight weeks, six months from the final response, and one year from the problem. This guide sets out the Legal Ombudsman route as it works in 2026 — the April 2023 scheme rules, the £50,000 compensation cap, the £400 case fee (paid by firms, not complainants), current timescales, and what complainants can realistically expect.
