3. Pre-action Conduct
The general pre-action Practice Direction, the Personal Injury Protocol, non-compliance and ADR before issue.
How to study for BSB Civil Litigation
Prepare separately for closed-book recall and open-book application while keeping every step anchored to the exact syllabus version for your sitting.
Core concepts
Concept 1
Pre-action conduct supports early information exchange, informed decisions, settlement, ADR, proportionate case management and efficient proceedings if litigation follows.
Exam cue: Identify whether a specific protocol applies before falling back on the general Practice Direction.
Concept 2
Where a specific protocol applies, its steps govern the exchange; the BSB syllabus specifically includes the Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury Claims.
Exam cue: Separate the letter-of-claim and response sequence from later disclosure, quantification, negotiation and stocktake steps.
Concept 3
The court may respond to unreasonable non-compliance through directions, stays, costs, interest or other proportionate consequences while accounting for urgency and limitation.
Exam cue: If issue is urgent, preserve the claim first and explain how the remaining pre-action objectives will be addressed.
Risk pitfalls and guardrails
Treating pre-action exchange as optional whenever a party believes settlement is unlikely.
Guardrail: Do not import a rule or commentary paragraph merely because the White Book cross-refers to it; the BSB syllabus expressly defines what is examinable.
Using pre-action requests as disproportionate satellite litigation or demanding full trial disclosure.
Guardrail: Do not import a rule or commentary paragraph merely because the White Book cross-refers to it; the BSB syllabus expressly defines what is examinable.
Allowing protocol compliance to expire a limitation period when protective issue is required.
Guardrail: Do not import a rule or commentary paragraph merely because the White Book cross-refers to it; the BSB syllabus expressly defines what is examinable.
Memory anchors
Pre-action objectives
Exchange enough information to understand positions, decide how to proceed, seek settlement and manage proportionately.
Specific protocol first
Use the applicable protocol; otherwise follow the general Pre-Action Conduct Practice Direction.
Personal injury sequence
Notification and claim, response, disclosure, valuation, negotiation and stocktake.
ADR before issue
Consider an appropriate process before proceedings and respond constructively to proposals.
Non-compliance
The court may impose proportionate procedural, costs or interest consequences for unreasonable failure.
Checkpoint rule
Do the check-up only after you can summarize each concept in one sentence and identify one dangerous pitfall from memory.
Knowledge Check (after reading)
Short check-up to confirm understanding of this module.
Check-up Questions
A business dispute has no specific pre-action protocol. What framework should the claimant use before issuing?
Before issue, the claimant sends a concise letter identifying the basis, facts, remedy and key monetary calculation. Why is this appropriate?
Answer all questions to submit.
Next step personalized recommendations
Continue learning
Move forward only after this module is stable.
What is Pass Harbor?
Completely free exam prep for 247 UK exams.
- Practice questions
- Flashcards
- Study guides
- Mock exams
- No registration
- No paywall
- Start instantly
“No more expensive exam prep. Quality study tools should be accessible to everyone.”