So you've either never used a lawyer before, or the only time you have, was when you bought your first house.
Getting the right legal advice can be tricky as the law and the legal system are complex, and if you call some law firms, they may try to get you and keep you as a client, regardless of whether their firm is the best one for your type of legal matter.
The types of lawyers can be broken up into a few broad categories as follows:
Generalist
Property
Commercial
Family
Personal Injury
Criminal
Litigtion
Each of the above general categories of lawyers, can be broken down into many sub-categories. For example, 'Property' could be broken down into residential conveyancing, commercial leases or Body Corporate (Strata) setup, administration or advice.
Sometimes the choice of lawyer is very clear. For example, for any matter involving the police, your first call would be to the criminal lawyer. If you are having troubles in your personal relationship, call the family lawyer. If you are buying a business, call a commercial lawyer.
So when do you need a specialised Litigation Lawyer?
This is a question we get asked all the time. What is the difference between litigation lawyers and the other types of lawyers? Perhaps you picture litigation lawyers as aggressive, bold, and brash, ready for a verbal fight at any moment. This is a common misconception of litigation lawyers and they are typically much less aggressive in nature than you would expect.
While commercial lawyers prepare agreements and write to each other about creating the perfect wording for the perfect clause to get the best tax minimisation outcome for their client or some other benefit. Commercial lawyers can spend weeks on these back-and-forth exchanges. Ideally, after these agreements are signed, these "perfect clauses" never get read again by anyone, because the commercial lawyers did a great job and everyone on each side of the transaction either got their settlement payment or carried on happily making loads of money in their new venture.
The best litigation lawyers, at their core, are very different from most other types of lawyers. They are driven to win the arguments, no matter how hard the job may seem. There is always an answer to every dispute, no matter how complex.
The best and driven litigation lawyers, deal with legal arguments, disputes and fights all day long. They remain composed and focussed amidst a seemingly unwinnable case, as until the witnesses give their oral testimony before the judge, no one can be absolutely certain as to how the case will be decided.
Each litigation matter is unique, and they all begin with one party disagreeing with another party about facts or circumstances that took place in the past.
Simple litigation matters will have lots of paperwork, so the dispute can be resolved quickly, as the answer will be worked out by your litigation lawyer analysing the documents and giving you advice about whether your opinion about the dispute is more likely right than wrong.
The most complex litigation matters arise where there are only a few documents to corroborate each party's version of events, and the party's need to rely heavily on what each person said to the other, before the dispute arose.
Whatever type of litigation matter you have, the best litigation lawyers will know the court rules inside-out, have appeared and argued in front of judges on many occasions and have a large team of expert barristers on speed-dial who can tackle even the most unique set of facts or technical areas of the law.
The more complex litigation matters usually involve corporations' disputes, wills and estates disputes, employment, misrepresentations, and construction law disputes.
So trust that your lawyer has your best interests in mind. If they're not litigation lawyers and you're involved in a dispute, get a litigation lawyer on the team to get your problem resolved quick-time before the matter gets out of hand.