The Pre-Action Letter in Judicial Review

Before most judicial reviews, one letter travels from applicant to decision-maker: here is your decision, here is why it is unlawful, here is what we require, here is your deadline. It looks like a formality. It is the highest-leverage step in the entire process.

Three Functions in One Document

Resolution: public bodies concede cases they will lose — supplying withheld reasons, re-taking flawed decisions, issuing long-delayed determinations — because a precisely pleaded letter shows them their litigation risk before it prices in. Costs protection: the letter demonstrates to the court that the body was given its chance; issuing without one, absent urgency, invites costs criticism even in victory. Case-sharpening: drafting the letter forces the grounds analysis early, and the body’s reply — explanation, concession or silence — becomes evidence that shapes the pleadings.

Anatomy of an Effective Letter

• The decision, its date, and the capacity in which it was made;
• The statutory framework governing it;
• Each ground of unlawfulness, stated with pleading precision — the grounds catalogue is the menu;
• The remedy required: reasons, withdrawal, re-decision, or a decision by a named date;
• A deadline the time limit can afford — and the statement that proceedings follow without further notice.

Where It Works Hardest

Delay cases: the mandamus threat has the best conversion rate in public law — departments produce long-pending decisions with remarkable speed once compelled decisions become the alternative (see challenging department decisions). Reasons cases: demanding the missing explanation either resolves the matter or hands you the reasoning to attack — the reasons ground in action. Licensing and livelihood matters: a letter within days of a defective revocation, seeking a hearing or suspension of effect, can save the licence before proceedings are ever needed.

When to Skip It

The letter serves the case, never the reverse. Where 28 days govern, where removal or demolition is imminent, where the letter’s deadline would exhaust the window for leave — proceedings issue first, protective relief is sought, and correspondence follows inside the litigation. That judgment, letter-first or proceedings-first, is made on day one with the whole calendar in view: the process end to end.