Q&A for in-house lawyers – Avoiding potholes in the road to court proceedings

The Rules of Court used to only apply when proceedings were underway. Now, however, there are a raft of rules that parties are well-advised to comply with to avoid cost and other sanctions and consequences.

Pre-action obligations can be difficult to navigate. To make sure the wheels stay on along the road to proceedings, Head of Dispute Resolution Wayne Beynon and Dispute Resolution Partner Dominic Hopkins will join Head of In-House Legal Services, Elizabeth Beatty to cover a range of topics including:

• The pre-action reach of the duties owed to the court
• The key ingredients of pre-action conduct
• The different pre-action conduct schemes that apply – making the right choice
• The sanctions for non-compliance
• The relationship between court pre-action conduct schemes and contractual dispute resolution procedures (including arbitration)
• Limitation of actions
• Applying pre-action conduct strategically.