General guidance
This guide currently contains general legal information. Jurisdiction-specific guidance for your location is coming soon. The Concaso assessment will still tailor its questions and analysis based on your jurisdiction.
This is what happened — what now?
You do not need the legal label to take the right first steps. The category usually falls out of four things: who the other party is, what relationship you had with them, what changed, and what you want to happen now. Getting those four straight is more useful than guessing at terminology.
- The same events can sit in more than one area of law, and that is normal.
- The first steps — preserve records, build a timeline, check deadlines — are the same in almost every category.
- Describing the situation plainly is faster and more accurate than choosing from a list.
Four questions that usually settle the category
- Who is the other party — an employer, a business, a landlord, an insurer, a public body, a professional, a family member, a neighbour, or a stranger?
- What relationship did you have with them — an agreement, an employment relationship, a tenancy, a policy, a transaction, or none at all?
- What changed — money not paid, work not done, something damaged, a decision made against you, a right denied, harm suffered, something published?
- What do you want — payment, the situation reversed, something stopped, a decision reconsidered, or simply to defend yourself?
Rough orientation from the facts
This is an orientation, not a classification. Many situations belong in two rows at once, and which one does the work depends on details that only come out once the facts are laid down properly.
| What happened | The area it usually falls into |
|---|---|
| Fired, laid off, pushed out, or treated badly at work | Employment |
| An agreement was broken, or work paid for was not delivered | Contract |
| An invoice is unpaid, or someone is demanding money from you | Debt and collections |
| A landlord or tenant dispute, eviction, deposit or repairs | Tenancy |
| An insurer denied, delayed or underpaid a claim | Insurance |
| You were injured, physically or psychologically | Personal injury |
| Something false was published about you, or content was misused | Defamation / intellectual property |
| A government body or regulator made a decision affecting you | Administrative |
| A dispute about a property purchase, sale, boundary or defect | Property |
| A separation, parenting, support or estate dispute | Family / estates |
| Discrimination, harassment or denial of a protected right | Human rights |
When it sits in more than one place
Overlap is common, and it is not a problem to solve before acting. What matters is that overlapping areas often have very different deadlines and very different forums, so the choice can be consequential.
Someone dismissed after raising a safety concern may be looking at an employment claim about how the dismissal happened, a human rights or statutory protection issue about why it happened, and a regulatory complaint about the underlying safety concern. Each has its own route and its own clock.
The first steps are the same whatever the category
- Write the sequence of events with dates, in order, in your own words.
- Gather everything already in writing and keep it in one place.
- Preserve anything that might be deleted, expire or be overwritten.
- Identify the exact legal entity on the other side.
- Note every date that looks like a deadline, including ones in letters you have received.
- Stop discussing the substance informally until you know where you stand.
Doing these six things well puts you in a better position than knowing the correct legal term. They are also exactly what a lawyer would otherwise charge you to assemble.
What to collect regardless of category
- Any written agreement, policy, offer, or terms you accepted
- The complete message and email history with the other side
- Invoices, receipts, payslips, statements or proof of payment
- Any formal letter, notice, decision or claim you have received
- Photographs, files or recordings created at the time
- Your own dated account of what happened, written now rather than later
What tends to matter later
- Records created at the time rather than reconstructed afterwards
- Anything in which the other side describes events in their own words
- Independent records from third parties — banks, platforms, providers, inspectors
- Documents establishing the amount or extent of the impact on you
- Dates: when you found out, when you complained, when they responded
Want both lists in one printable page?
Common mistakes
- Waiting to act until you are confident about the right legal label.
- Choosing the wrong forum because it seemed simplest, and losing the option that fitted better.
- Deleting messages or closing accounts that hold the evidence.
- Explaining the situation differently to different people, creating inconsistencies in the record.
- Assuming the longest deadline you have heard of applies to your situation.
Frequently asked
Does it matter if I describe my problem using the wrong legal term?
Not much at the start. What matters is that the facts, dates and documents are accurate. Terminology gets corrected easily; a missing deadline or a deleted record usually does not.
What if my situation involves several things at once?
That is common. The practical approach is to note every possible route, identify the shortest deadline among them, and prioritise the route that gives you the outcome you actually want.
Can Concaso tell me what kind of problem I have?
It can structure your description into a recognised type of dispute and ask the questions that matter for it. That is orientation and preparation, not legal advice, and Concaso is not a law firm.
What if my situation is not on the list?
The list covers common patterns, not all of them. Describe what happened in your own words — the four questions at the top of this guide will still get you to a sensible starting point.
Describe it in your own words
You do not have to pick a category. Write what happened in plain language and Concaso will work out what kind of problem it is, then ask only the questions that matter for that kind of dispute.
Describe what happenedTopics in this guide
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This guide is general information, not legal advice, and Concaso is not a law firm. Reading it does not create a lawyer–client relationship. Deadlines and procedures differ by jurisdiction and change over time — confirm anything you intend to rely on.