For trainees and junior lawyers · English law

Civil Litigation

An office chair maker sues the foundry whose chair bases cracked. You act for the chair maker.

How a business claim runs through the courts, taught through one claim file, tab by tab.

A meeting room at the law firm in September, drawn straight on at table height: the client's first meeting about the claim. A long table runs across the room. On it, in the middle, lies a five-star office chair base sealed in a large clear evidence bag, its write-on panel left blank. A hairline crack, drawn in copper, runs down from the mouth of the socket where the gas lift fits. Beside it stand two cups, and at the right a thick file tied with tape. Behind the table the room's own office chairs stand pushed back, their five-star bases under the table, sound. In front, on the near side, stands the one wooden kitchen chair in the room, seen from behind, with the client's coat hung over its back. No one is in the room.

You will be able to:

  • Read a claim file and say what each document does
  • Explain why each side fights, and why both settle
  • Draft the first papers a trainee writes in a claim

10 chapters with tests · a final exam · a certificate · about 3 hours in all · published 14 October 2026

Start Chapter 1

Chapters

Module 1

Before the Claim

Module 2

The Statements of Case

Module 3

Getting Ready for Trial

Module 4

Settling

One case runs through every chapter: an office chair maker sues the foundry whose chair bases cracked. Read the full Claim File →

Glossary: every term in plain English · Final exam: 30 questions, open book