What to Bring to Your First Civil Litigation Consultation

Key takeaways

• For a first civil-litigation consultation, bring every court paper and notice first, followed by a one-page chronology, the documents that created the relationship or dispute, complete communications, payment and loss records, original digital evidence, witness details, and any insurance or earlier legal correspondence. Keep originals intact and organise copies by date and source.
• Do not postpone the consultation while trying to build a perfect file. If a summons, notice of motion, court order, sheriff’s document, demand or hearing notice has arrived, send that item to the lawyer immediately and say when and how it was received. Court-process and prescription dates depend on the document, forum, claim and facts; a tidy bundle does not extend them.

Put urgent court papers at the front

Create a first folder called “Urgent process”. Include every page, annexure and cover sheet for:

• a summons or particulars of claim;
• a notice of motion and supporting affidavit;
• an answering, opposing or replying affidavit already delivered;
• a court order, judgment, warrant or notice of set-down;
• a sheriff’s return or document left by the sheriff;
• a notice to defend, bar, discover, produce, amend or provide particulars;
• a mediation, pre-trial, case-management or trial notice; and
• any email or filing receipt from a court, registrar, clerk, sheriff or legal representative.

Write the receipt date, time, place, method and name of the person who received the papers on a separate intake note. Do not write on the served original or detach pages. If an envelope, delivery slip or electronic header helps establish receipt, preserve it.

The summons glossary explains the document at a high level. The lawyer must identify the actual court, type of process, response required and current rule.

1. A one-page chronology with source references

Prepare a neutral timeline from the earliest relevant event to today. For each entry, give:

1. the date, or mark it “approximate”;
2. who acted or communicated;
3. what happened in one sentence;
4. the document, message, payment or witness that supports it; and
5. why the event may matter.

Separate fact from inference. “Invoice 17 was emailed on 4 March” is a factual entry if the sent email exists. “They never intended to pay” is a conclusion that requires evidence. Record gaps, conflicting dates and missing documents rather than forcing the history into a perfect story.

Include dates that may affect jurisdiction, notice requirements, prescription, delay, cancellation, breach, demand, service, knowledge, payment, acknowledgement, settlement or prior proceedings. The Prescription Act contains different periods and rules about when a debt becomes due, delay, interruption and completion. There is no safe universal calculation for every civil claim, so ask the lawyer to record the earliest plausible deadline and its source.

The prescription glossary provides orientation without calculating the period for the matter.

2. Identity, party and authority records

The person with the grievance is not always the person or entity that owns the claim or must defend it. Bring records that help identify every party and the capacity in which they acted.

Depending on the matter, these may include:

• an identity document and current contact details;
• the correct registered name and known address of the other party;
• company, close-corporation, trust, partnership, body-corporate or association records;
• a company resolution, delegation, office held or proof of authority to instruct;
• a cession, suretyship, guarantee, agency or power-of-attorney document;
• a deceased-estate appointment or other representative authority; and
• records showing which entity contracted, invoiced, paid, occupied, supplied or received the service.

Redact copies used for casual comparison, but follow the lawyer’s secure intake instructions for legally required identity and authority records. Do not email a full company or trust archive merely because it may contain one relevant page.

3. The documents that created or changed the relationship

Bring the signed version and every relevant amendment, schedule or incorporated term. If no single signed agreement exists, bring the sequence from proposal to performance.

Useful categories can include:

• contracts, quotations, purchase orders and accepted terms;
• policies, rules, specifications, plans, scopes and service levels;
• deeds, leases, shareholder or association documents;
• guarantees, acknowledgements of debt and security documents;
• variation orders, extensions, cancellations and termination notices;
• invoices, delivery notes, completion certificates and acceptance records; and
• the version of website or platform terms said to have applied at the time.

Label each document by date and source. Keep competing versions. Do not silently replace a missing signature page, merge documents into a new “agreement”, or present a later template as the historical version.

The litigation checklist can provide a wider indexing structure once the immediate court paper has been triaged.

4. Complete communications, not selected screenshots

Bring full email threads with headers and attachments, complete message exports where reasonably available, letters, meeting notes, call logs and recorded notices. A screenshot may be a convenient reference, but it can omit the sender, date, surrounding conversation, attachment or metadata needed to test authenticity and meaning.

For each communication channel, note:

• the account or device on which the original is kept;
• the participants and their roles;
• whether messages were deleted, edited, forwarded or exported;
• whether a recording was made and under what circumstances; and
• whether another person has the complete version.

Preserve data lawfully. Do not guess passwords, access a former colleague’s account, impersonate another person, secretly alter a shared record or ask someone to delete an unfavourable message. If a device or cloud account may contain important evidence, ask for preservation and collection instructions before changing it.

5. Payment, value and loss records

State what outcome is sought, then show how each amount is derived. Bring the source records behind the calculation rather than only a spreadsheet total.

Possible records include:

• bank proof and statements limited to the relevant transactions;
• invoices, receipts, remittances and account reconciliations;
• payroll, rental, stock or repair records where relevant;
• valuations, expert estimates and replacement quotations;
• tax invoices and VAT treatment relied on;
• mitigation steps and amounts recovered from another source;
• interest or penalty clauses; and
• insurance, indemnity or legal-expenses cover.

Mark estimates as estimates. Separate the principal amount, interest, costs, damages and any non-monetary relief. The amount a person feels would be fair is not itself proof that the court may award it.

6. Photos, recordings, physical items and expert material

Keep the original digital files where possible. Record who created each item, on which device, when, where, and what has happened to it since. For photos or videos, avoid repeated compression, filters, captions over the image or unexplained cropping. Retain the original and make a working copy.

If a physical item is relevant, photograph it in context, record where it is kept and ask before transporting or altering it. Safety, privacy, ownership, confidentiality and chain-of-custody concerns may affect how an item should be preserved.

Bring existing expert reports, instructions, underlying tests, invoices and correspondence. Do not commission a new expert merely to strengthen the consultation pack. The lawyer should first identify the issue, appropriate discipline, scope, independence requirements, timing and proportional cost.

Both the High Court and magistrates’ court rules contain discovery and production processes for documents related to the matters in dispute. The exact obligation depends on the court and procedural stage. Keeping source records intact from the beginning makes later advice and disclosure safer; it does not mean every item will be filed or produced.

7. A witness map, not drafted testimony

List each potential witness’s name, reliable contact route, relationship to the parties, and the facts that person directly saw, heard, created or did. Link the witness to the chronology and documents they can identify.

Do not ask a witness to sign a polished statement before the lawyer has assessed the issues and process. Never coordinate a false version, hide a contradiction or tell a witness what outcome their evidence must achieve. Identify concerns about availability, language, health, safety, employment pressure or travel so that lawful arrangements can be considered early.

8. Earlier advice, settlement and related proceedings

Tell the lawyer about every lawyer, adviser, insurer, ombud, regulator, mediator, arbitrator, tribunal or court already involved. Bring the mandate, material correspondence, invoices, advice received, settlement proposals, rulings and case numbers, while keeping without-prejudice material in a clearly separated folder.

Communications made confidentially for the purpose of obtaining legal advice may be protected by legal professional privilege when the requirements are met. The Constitutional Court in Thint explains that privilege belongs to the client, must be claimed and is not absolute. A pre-existing business record does not become privileged merely because it is sent to a lawyer. Do not forward legal advice to opponents or broad groups before asking how privilege and confidentiality should be handled.

If there is related criminal, family, labour, insolvency, regulatory or administrative process, disclose it. A statement or settlement in one forum can affect strategy elsewhere.

9. Insurance, funding and the proposed mandate

Bring any policy that may provide liability, professional-indemnity, household, motor, business or legal-expenses cover, together with the claim notification and insurer response. Notice terms and panel-attorney arrangements may matter even when cover is disputed.

Ask the lawyer to define the first instruction. It might be limited to urgent deadline protection, a route opinion, document review, demand or response, settlement advice, an application, pleadings, or conduct of the case through trial. Confirm:

• the fee basis, VAT, deposit and estimated disbursements;
• work included and excluded;
• who will do the work and appear;
• how additional work is authorised;
• counsel, expert, sheriff and correspondent costs;
• reporting and billing frequency; and
• what happens if the estimate, strategy or mandate changes.

A contingency-fee arrangement is a regulated statutory agreement, not an informal promise to “pay only if you win”. If it is proposed, ask which provision applies, request the prescribed written agreement and obtain advice on the fee and settlement controls. Otherwise clarify whether the work is hourly, fixed, capped or phased.

The Legal Practice Council Code requires early advice on likely success, avoidance of unnecessary work and expense, competent and timely performance, and reasonable fees. The litigation-lawyer route helps define the provider type, while the lawyer directory and law-firm directory support comparison. Directory presence is not proof of practising status, relevant experience, capacity or suitability.

Questions to take into the room

Write down the answers to these questions:

1. What are the possible causes of action, defences or threshold objections?
2. Which court or alternative process has jurisdiction, and why?
3. What is the earliest live response, prescription or notice date?
4. Which facts are admitted, disputed, missing or legally irrelevant?
5. What evidence is strongest, what is weak, and what must be preserved or requested?
6. What outcome is legally available and commercially proportionate?
7. Is urgent or interim relief genuinely required?
8. What settlement, mediation, ombud, tribunal or small-claims route should be compared?
9. What will the lawyer do next, what must the client do, and by when?
10. What is the likely next-phase cost range and decision point?

The lawyer consultation preparation guide can be used to turn the answers into a written handover.

A practical folder order

Use a simple index:

• A — Urgent process: court papers, service details, orders and hearing notices;
• B — Chronology and parties: one-page timeline, identity, entity and authority records;
• C — Relationship: agreements, amendments, policies and performance records;
• D — Communications: full threads, letters, meeting notes and recordings;
• E — Money and remedy: payments, loss calculation, mitigation and insurance;
• F — Evidence and witnesses: original files, item register, expert material and witness map; and
• G — Advice and questions: earlier mandates, protected advice, proposals and consultation questions.

Number pages or files without changing the originals. Give the lawyer an index that says what is missing. A smaller, traceable file is more useful than an unlabelled data dump.

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