What is litigation law?
A litigation law is the rules and set of practices revolving around the dispute resolution system in the court. Litigation law is often associated with tort cases. However, litigation can also be related to any other case scenario, including contested divorces and eviction proceedings.
A dispute of litigation law may arise in the course of any type of commercial deal or transaction. Some of the issues that fall into the category of litigation law are contractual matters, fraud and banking transactions, mergers, regulatory mechanisms, restructuring problems and corporate management.
Characteristics of good litigation lawyers
Business litigation lawyers should have good communication skills and finer negotiation abilities. Though it is a fact that there is not much of arguing to be done in litigation cases, making a cogent and reasoned case in favor of client’s interest is vital. Business and dispute litigation lawyers have strong academic background and they are flexible when it comes to tackling arguments and challenges in the court room. Additionally these lawyers have a keen sense of commercial awareness. They have good command over technical and legal principles associated with a particular litigation case. They have the ability to present factual law and strategies in a reasoned and influential manner.
Litigation trends in small and large firm
Much often, when people think of litigation, they think of lawyers going to courts and defending claims brought against the clients they are representing. However, in certain cases, to prevent the cost and damage to the business relationships, dispute resolution is often used by both the parties.
Talking about dispute resolution departments, many top law firms have specialist litigation and departments. On other hand, many smaller or specialist firms focus all their resources on litigation. This is the main difference between the litigation trends of small and large legal firm.
The litigation process
The process of litigation law or the process of resolving disputes begins by filing or answering a complaint through public system of court. In further proceedings, the nature of this complaint lay the foundation of settlement negotiations. A series of steps involved in litigation is as follow:
- The plaintiff initiates civil action by filing a complaint in the court
- Personal jurisdiction is obtained from the defendant
- The parties then meet and try to confer their disputes with each other. They also discuss the possibility of negotiation and plan further for discovery and negotiation.
- The court issues a pretrial scheduling order after this meet
- Defendant is then allowed to file motions. Some may be filed in the initial responsive pleading of defendant and other may be filed later
- Defendant files the answer and parties disclose the document. The process moves forward
- Either party can file motions during this time
- The court then files the pre-trial conference as a final step before trial
- Trial is then conducted by court
- After trial, the court renders, signs and files the judgment
- Depending on the situation, appeal may be taken by the court. On basis of the appeal, the judgment may or may not stay
- Appeal is taken into considerations on basis of briefs or after the oral argument
- Judgment is rendered over the appeal
- Judgment is then enforced.
Finding litigation lawyers
Finding and hiring litigation solicitor provides an advantage. Be it a small or large litigation dispute, an experienced litigator will give one party the upper hand. In cases, where you have been sued, or looking to enforce your legal rights, it becomes necessary to hire a lawyer. Knowing ins and outs of hiring civil litigation lawyers will help you avoid the problems before hand. It will make other side think twice on their strategies. If your case proceeds to litigation, your attorney will be at your side, fighting for your rights every step of the way.
One can easily search for a reputed attorney working in and around his area by seeking for referrals from friends or family members. However, a better way of finding litigation lawyers is by online resources. Needless to say, there are various online directories available through which you can search for a lawyer having extensive experience in dealing with cases just like yours. You can easily get his contact number or law firm’s address from the online resource.
Conclusion
The best way to get to the basics of litigation law is to understand its different stages and procedures related to the lawsuit. In cases involving tort negligence, such as personal injury cases, the Civil Rules of the procedure that is in force in that particular jurisdiction will apply. These specific rules describe the legal requirements which the parties must comply with at each step of the litigation process. Also, other cases might have their different set of legal rules for the litigants to follow. However, the same general outline applies in every case.
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