Civil litigation transpires between two private parties, who choose to settle their legal dispute, seeking money damages or other specified damages instead of criminal action. A civil litigation attorney or lawyer typically represents clients by representing the client, attending trials, arbitration meetings, hearings, and other activities, which can be at the local, state, or federal court level. Often, lawyers and attorneys who represent clients in civil litigation are referred to as litigators or trial lawyers.
In a civil litigation case, it is typical to have two parties at extreme odds, often requiring civil litigation attorneys to argue opposing views and facts in an effort to win the case for their client. These legal professionals usually employ paralegals that research facts, past cases, and the law to establish a strategy to win for their clients.
Do All Cases go to Court in Civil Litigation?
No. In fact, there is quite a bit of process that happens before a case would ever reach the inside of a courtroom, including investigation, discovery, pleadings, and pre-trial. In most cases, it is the discovery process that takes the most amount of time and some cases go on for months and even years. If a case makes it to trial, upon a verdict, there are also settlement and appeals. Many cases or resolved outside of the courtroom with a settlement.
What Constitutes Civil Litigation?
Civil litigation can take on many forms. However, most civil attorneys specialize in two areas of practice. The most common are personal injury, medical malpractice, employment and labor, environmental law, real estate, workman compensation, anti-trust, and landlord/tenant disputes. Within each of those specialties, the types of disputes are vast and a civil attorney spends a great deal of time in the discovery process, understanding the particular case to ensure they have a strategy for their client.
The lawyer or attorney needs a broad spectrum of information; collecting and understanding facts in order to properly represent their client. When selecting a litigation lawyer or attorney, there are some key things to understand. You will want your legal professional to fully understand substantive and procedural law and have extremely strong skills to represent the client by advocating on their behalf.