Understanding the Role of a Civil Attorney

What will a civil attorney do? What is a civil case? That's what a civil lawyer does. Cases other than criminal cases are referred to as civil cases. Read this article to learn about the differences between civil and criminal cases.

Family, probate, and debt collection are examples of civil cases. The role of family and probate attorneys will not be discussed here, as these types of cases are often very different from other civil cases.

Either the plaintiff (the person who files the lawsuit) or the defendant is represented by a civil attorney (the person being sued.) An attorney for the plaintiff is hired before the case is filed in most cases. In most cases, the defendant hires a civil attorney after someone sues him. An individual who is about to be sued, or who has been threatened with suit, is likely to hire a civil attorney in advance of the lawsuit.

It all starts with a petition, summons, and response

A civil attorney must file a petition in court on behalf of a potential plaintiff. "A short and plain declaration of the claim demonstrating that the pleader is entitled to relief" is all that is required in a petition. The plaintiff's lawsuit is based on the defendant's actions, which are described in the petition. An attorney for the plaintiff may contact the defendant before filing a petition to see if anything can be worked out without going to court.

The defendant must be served with the petition and summons after the petition is filed. If the defendant does not respond within a certain number of days (in Oklahoma, that number is typically twenty days), the judge will enter a default judgment against him as a result. Unconstitutional, according to the Supreme Court, is a court's entry of judgment against a defendant who has not been served with legal notice of the lawsuit.

Once a default judgment has been entered by the judge, the plaintiff will typically get whatever they asked for in their petition. The first thing a civil attorney does when a defendant is sued is file an answer in court. If the defendant's lawyer fails to respond in a timely manner and the judge grants a default judgment, the defendant has grounds to sue his lawyer for malpractice in those circumstances.

Counterclaims are sometimes filed by a defendant (or his lawyer) along with an answer. Defendant sues plaintiff in a counterclaim, which is a petition. Following the plaintiff's receipt of the counterclaim, he or she has twenty days to respond. Plaintiff's petition and defense counterclaim are often litigated in the same case, which makes sense.

Discovery

The next phase in a civil case is discovery. During discovery, each party can obtain information from the other party about the lawsuit without having to go to court. Since mediaeval England, discovery has been a part of civil cases. In an English lawsuit, we have records of Shakespeare answering discovery questions.) Discoveries are one of the English court procedures that were brought to America by the English settlers.

Ask more at Foshee and Yaffe Attorneys at Law in OKC and talk to their experienced civil attorneys.

**Disclaimer: This content is not to be construed as legal advice nor does it establish terms of a client-attorney relationship.