Write a dispute brief someone can read in five minutes

The history is long, but the immediate question is small

Suppose a payment dispute has generated months of messages. You send the entire chain to an adviser with “please help”. The urgent question is whether to answer a proposed deduction before a meeting, but that detail sits near the bottom of the email.

Start with the decision you need help making. A short brief does not replace the documents. It gives the reader a route through them and makes urgent issues easier to identify.

State the account and the disagreement

Name the contracting parties, job and amount outstanding. Explain what the other side disputes and what you want to achieve. Separate an unpaid invoice from a proposed settlement or an estimate of future loss.

Use plain descriptions rather than accusations about motives. “The customer disputes the additional excavation charge” tells the reader more than “they are trying to cheat us”, and it points toward the records that need review.

Choose the events that change the position

Write a short chronology of the agreement, relevant instructions, work, invoices and responses. Add document references for the key entries. Leave routine messages in the supporting file unless they explain a material change.

Identify an inference as an inference. If a date is uncertain, say what you are checking. A brief should reduce reading time without turning an incomplete history into a falsely certain account.

Put deadlines where they will be seen

List any formal document received, its date and the response or hearing date stated in it. Supply the complete document and ask the adviser to check the actual timing requirements.

Do not calculate a legal deadline from a generic online example or assume negotiation pauses it. Flag a deadline concern in the enquiry itself rather than burying it inside an attachment called “miscellaneous correspondence”.

Attach the records that answer the question

Include the agreement, disputed calculation and the correspondence most directly connected to the issue. business.gov.au recommends retaining transaction records; the brief should point to the relevant records rather than repeat every transaction.

Tell the adviser which material is missing and what has already been tried. Keep legal advice and sensitive material secure, and ask the adviser what should or should not be shared with the other party.

Source: business.gov.au: Record keeping

End with the next decision you need

Ask a concrete question about the options, required evidence and likely next steps. Explain your commercial constraints, such as an upcoming payment commitment, without asking the adviser to guarantee a recovery result.

Use Report a Dispute below to give CRP the issue, amount and immediate concern. Have the indexed supporting file ready. A clear first brief can improve the conversation while leaving room for the adviser to ask questions that the original account did not address.