What A Civil Litigation Attorney Can Do For You
Posted on: 3 September 2018
Civil litigation covers a broad spectrum of legal situations, including breaches of contract, disputes between individuals and organization, family law issues and even landlord and tenant problems. Litigators as a group intend to represent their clients in negotiations, hearings, mediation and trials related to non-criminal matters, almost always civil torts. In most instances, the goal is to obtain compensation for the client or to fight off efforts to get compensation from them. Given that a lawsuit can last anywhere from weeks to decades, it's wise to understand the process and what the people involved in it can do for you.
Facing Other Parties
A civil litigation lawyer can assist you in pursuing action against or fending off actions brought by a slew of different entities and people, including local, state and federal agencies. They also handle cases for clients who are dealing with international tribunals and bodies, and they can represent the interests of a corporation or anyone seeking to sue one. For this reason, many medium-to-large companies have in-house civil litigation attorneys on their payrolls, as do almost all government agencies above the local level.
Getting Started
A litigator will help you assemble everything that's likely to be expected by the court during the pre-trial process. This includes producing lists of witnesses, discovering evidence and filing motions. If any pre-trial investigations need to be conducted, a civil litigation lawyer will assign the job to someone dependable and properly licensed. As is the case with any legal situation, the more documentation you have gathered in the early stages, the better your prospects will be down the road.
Before anything actually heads to trial, your attorney will conduct an assessment of your case and establish benchmarks for what would lead to an acceptable settlement or agreement. In the vast majority of cases, the court will strongly encourage all parties to a pending or active lawsuit to arrive at a negotiated solution. Your civil litigation lawyer will provide an unbiased view of whether any offers made are worth taking.
Trial, When Necessary
Should the parties be unable to arrive at an agreement, the impasse will have to be explained to the court. Options for mediation will be explored, and if none seem likely to avert a trial, the court will decide whether to set up a jury or bench trial. Most specifics, such as trial dates, will be set by the judge.
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