Small claims, LIP...need to submit skelton argument?

[LLLLLLLLLLLL]

I'm the claimant on a small claim track case for less than £1k claim.

Defendant is an organisation and they have employed a top legal firm...probably already spent £5k+ on it so far....

The law firm has now intimated I need to submit a skelton argument ...do I have to??

Heres what they actually said...In advance of a court hearing, it is ordinary course for each party to prepare their own “skeleton argument” in which they include a brief summary of the case they seek to argue at the hearing. Ordinarily, each party would append to that skeleton any “authorities” (i.e. any case law or provisions of legislation) upon which they seek to rely. We intend to be in a position to exchange and file our client’s skeleton argument by xxxx. To the extent that you intend to prepare such a document, when the parties exchange their skeleton arguments, we suggest that you also provide to this firm copies of any authorities upon which you intend to rely. We then propose that this firm prepares a bundle containing the parties’ respective authorities for the convenience of the parties and the Court at the hearing.

Would welcome your advice as always...

[R0b]

Not on the small claims track unless the court has ordered one to be filed.

It is helpful to have a skeleton but it is not necessary, what is more important is ensuring any legislation or case law you want to rely on is filed with the court and shared with the other side. Judges will not be happy if you ambush them by referring to something they haven't got on the court file.

Whether you want to file a skeleton argument is up to you but you may want to take them up on the offer of the authorities bundle.