Adjudication is often won or lost before the process even begins. How you prepare and your understanding of the process will factor greatly into the outcome. While you are not expected to be an expert on adjudication, your case must be focused, properly evidenced and strategically positioned at every stage.
To ensure this, there are three common pitfalls you must avoid.
Messy submissions
Part of beginning the adjudication process is submitting your case to an adjudicator. Messy submissions could be rejected by an adjudicator, elongating the process as you re-prepare your submission.
Submissions may be rejected if:
- A submission was made late
- A submission was made without first giving notice
- A submission is improperly formatted
- A submission makes baseless claims
These are the most common reasons a submission may be rejected. However, to ensure your case is successfully submitted, it is always best to have an expert eye look everything over.
Missing exhibits
In adjudication, an “exhibit” is any supporting evidence to a claim. Since an adjudicator can only make a decision based on the evidence submitted to them, if anything is incorrect or missing, this could hinder the decision-making process. In addition to this, missing exhibits can also be grounds for the case to be dismissed entirely.
Disputes must go through a crystallisation period before being brought to adjudication. This means that the dispute has been laid out and is fully understood by both parties. Missing exhibits that prevent this understanding give the responding party grounds to argue that the dispute has not been properly crystalised.
Unfocused arguments
You do not have to be a lawyer or barrister to successfully argue your case to an adjudicator, but you do need a well rounded understanding of the dispute. You will be expected to present structured and well supported arguments for which the adjudicator will use to guide their decision.
Unfocused arguments risk the case either being dismissed or the adjudicator’s decision not being in your favour. Poorly presented cases also make it difficult to challenge an adjudicator’s decision after the fact.
Signs of an unfocused argument are:
- Lack of structure
- Points not directly related to the dispute
- No understanding of core issue
- Lack of evidence
Build a strong adjudication case
Avoiding the pitfalls of adjudication is only one part of building a strong case for adjudication. Learn the rest by joining my upcoming webinar. I’ll be sharing what strong pleadings look like in practice, why clarity on quantum and relief matters, and how expert input should be timed and briefed. Register here.
