INTRODUCING THE NEW CIVIL LITIGATION BRIEF “TOOLBOX” SERIES : WHERE’S THE BEST PLACE TO FIND WHAT YOU WANT

One of the purposes of this site is as a working “toolbox” for practitioners.  To provide a useful and readily accessible source of information when particular issues arise. For that reason something new is starting on this site in the near future – the “toolbox” series.

(I recently inherited my father’s toolbox. An electrician by trade he knew the importance of being able to put your hands on the right tools at the right time. He was, as they say, a bright spark…)

WHY THE “TOOLBOX” SERIES?

An experience that is common to many civil litigators is having to look things up in a hurry. A few weeks ago I arrived in a hotel room in the West Midlands at 11.45 pm, all ready to represent a defendant in  a trial the following day. I then found that at about 5.00 that day the claimant had applied for an adjournment of the trial on the grounds of ill health.  A very weak “sick note” was being used in support of the application.

WHERE DO I LOOK?

I was able to find many of the recent cases that relate to adjournments on the grounds of ill health.  In particular one case that I had written about at the time as a “cut out and keep guide” where the judge reviewed and encapsulated all the relevant authorities in relation to adjournments on this basis.

THE PRACTICAL RESULT

I was able to email the cases to the judge the following morning and the cases were accepted as an authoritative summary of the principles. This all ended well for my client. The details will follow in the first post in the series – “what do to if your opponent is applying for an adjournment on the grounds a witnesses’  ill health”.