A civil litigation attorney represents clients in court for civil cases and must have knowledge of civil procedure, evidence rules, and local court rules. They specialize in specific areas of civil law and must have persuasive legal writing and questioning skills. In the trial phase, they must know how to present witnesses, cross-examine, and tell a persuasive story to win the case.
A civil litigation attorney is a trial attorney who deals with civil cases rather than criminal cases. This type of attorney focuses their legal practice on representing clients in court. A civil litigation attorney can initiate legal action by filing a lawsuit or defend a client by responding to a lawsuit and filing counterclaims. A civil litigation attorney must have several skillsets to effectively represent his clients.
Civil litigation attorneys will most likely focus their legal practice on specific areas of civil law. For example, they might only handle medical malpractice cases, lawsuits against government agencies, or insurance defense. Lawyers limit their legal practice to certain areas because the body of law covering a particular area can be large and complex.
In addition to understanding the substantive law in their chosen area of practice, civil litigation attorneys must also constantly refine their knowledge of the rules of civil procedure, rules of evidence, and local court rules. A civil lawyer must know these rules and understand how the courts apply these rules so that they can use them in favor of their client. An attorney familiar with employment law but unfamiliar with the rules of procedure and rules of evidence may find your case dismissed because another attorney used the rules to exclude certain evidence.
Knowledge of the law is not enough for a civil lawyer. He must also master the art of persuasion because, as a trial lawyer, he must constantly work to get a judge or jury to make decisions that favor their client. This is not an easy task if, for example, the customer is a company responsible for manufacturing a product that may have injured or killed someone.
A civil lawyer must understand how to conduct each stage of the litigation process. In the pre-trial stage, you need to know how to conduct a client interview to determine if the client has a valid claim. The attorney must have persuasive legal writing skills so that he can draft a claim that frames the client’s case favorably and survives the other party’s motions. After the civil litigation attorney files a lawsuit, his questioning skills and knowledge of the law will extract key information from an opposing party during the discovery phase.
In the trial phase, a civil lawyer must know how to present his own witnesses and cross-examine the opposing witnesses. He or she needs to know when to object and present compelling arguments to the judge to avoid damaging evidence or obtain critical evidence. The attorney needs to know when to be aggressive towards a witness without angering a jury, and he needs to understand that he needs to be liked by a jury even when the client isn’t. A civil litigation attorney also needs to know how to tell a persuasive story that will cause a judge or jury to return a verdict in favor of his client.
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