Bullen & Leake & Jacob’s Precedents of Pleadings (19th edition)

I had not seen this book for many years. To revisit a practitioner text, especially one that is so useful and whose pleadings are so succinct, has been a joy. The work is incredibly practitioner-friendly.

As a partnership, regulatory and employment solicitor advising law firms, this book has been well used during the process of review. This is something I was not really expecting, and which reminded me that resources like this remain a constant in legal libraries due to their quality.

A minor weakness is that the core claims of each practice area are covered but not the rarer claims or defences. I think this could be expanded upon in the next supplement or edition.

As a partner paying for an expensive online library, including extensive pleadings, I have found the physical copy of Precedents of Pleadings to be an outstanding addition.

The simplicity of pleadings across a range of disciplines is incredibly helpful to a practitioner such as myself whose work goes across legal disciplines. The pleadings are user-friendly and would speak directly to a busy judge. This is the key to good pleadings. When allied with a clear and succinct factual background, I have found the pleadings to be persuasive and helpful in practice.

For anybody involved in contentious work, this is an outstanding resource when trying to distil and simplify a claim or defence so that it is at its most persuasive, and then moving on to draft the pleadings.  

Would I use it in isolation? No. Do I use it as part of my core materials to help enhance the quality of legal advice and pleadings? Absolutely.  

Paul Bennett is a partnership and regulatory solicitor at Bennett Briegal LLP