PIL Toolkit resources

Litigation is simply the process of taking legal action before the courts, or another judicial decision-maker. There isn't a single globally agreed upon definition of Public Interest Litigation. Learn about how PILS defines public interest litigation and how to identify a public interest element in an issue that your organisation...

Combining legal remedies with visible campaigning or policy work can be a really powerful way of holding decision makers accountable. Check out our animation that captures all the benefits that the Public Interest Litigation Toolkit has to offer Northern Ireland's changemakers!

This section of the Toolkit outlines the questions that your organisation should ask itself before bringing any kind of legal action. Your answers to these questions will help you determine whether your organisation is prepared and equipped to pursue litigation.

Litigation is not the solution in all circumstances. This section of the Toolkit invites your organisation to consider whether alternatives to litigation might solve the issue or consider whether any of the alternatives might complement legal action.

An ombudsman is an independent, impartial, and free service that investigates and resolves complaints against particular public bodies or organisations. Many organisations have a specific ombudsman appointed to look into complaints. Could engaging with an ombudsman be appropriate for your organisation or service user?

Now that your organisation has considered pre-litigation questions and have decided that litigation is the right course of action, let’s consider whether you can lodge an application for judicial review. This is among the most common proceedings used to challenge government decision making.

A third party intervention is when an individual or organisation who is not a party to existing proceedings applies to participate in those proceedings. A third party will intervene to strengthen one party’s position by providing additional information which it thinks will help to persuade the court in one party’s...

Now that you know what an intervention is, and know how to determine whether to intervene in particular proceedings, you need to know how to go about seeking leave to intervene. This section will provide a practical overview of all of the steps in an intervention, from obtaining leave up...

This section of the toolkit explains costs, including cost considerations and implications to help you determine how to proceed to address your legal issue.

This section of the toolkit explains costs and the cost considerations and implications to assist you to determine how to proceed to address your legal issue.

This section of the toolkit explains costs and the cost considerations and implications to assist you to determine how to proceed to address your legal issue.