Tag Archives: litigation attorney

Becoming a Litigation Attorney

civil litigationAttorneys are people who have gone to law school and who practice the law. They must pass a big exam called the bar exam. This is what makes a student a certified attorney. Sometimes students can have a hard time determining what kind of law they want to practice because there are so many different types.

First, you need to consider all areas of the law. Once you have narrowed your choices down to a three you should start seeking as much information on those choices that you can possibly fund. You will also want to determine what type of firm you want to practice. Maybe you want to do corporate law where you have the opportunity to make partnerships or maybe you want to head out on your own.

There are so many areas of the law that some lawyers specialize in a couple areas, while some focus on just one area of the law. Practicing attorneys that do a generalization of many areas of the law are called general practitioners.

They don’t focus on all the areas, but they choose many areas in which to have great knowledge of. Specialists focus on one area. You may have criminal attorneys, tax attorneys, women’s rights attorneys, and so on. A general practitioner can handle most legal issues that are common.

If you are involved in a complex case or case that is worth a lot of money or a serious matter you will want a specialist. In some cases, people will have multiple attorneys so that they can make sure that their case is being handed to the firm’s full capability and so on.

When it comes to the lawyers, you will mostly see what special training they have gotten. Attorneys are just the name for anyone who can represent you in a court of law. They too have to pas a bar and are state certified. Any lawyer can be an attorney. The only thing is that some lawyers do not litigate.

They try to get deals or bargains so that everyone is put in a win-win (or lose-lose) situation. Their track record is usually very good considering that they must convince the other lawyer to give in, while the attorneys have the option to convince a group of peers. It is so much easier to convince one person out of twelve to join your side of the issue than it is to convince one important person.

When it comes to being a lawyer, many decide rather they want to go with a firm or practice within a private office. Firms are large groups of attorneys or lawyers that work together. If your case is extremely important to you; like if you can’t afford to lose, you will want to go with a law firm. The old saying two heads is better one fits perfectly into this situation. Many people will attack your case at different angles and a firm just combines those angles to give the client a better change of winning and getting a better deal in the end.

For more info visit: https://www.seek-attorney.com/

Three Things You Must Know About Civil Litigation

civil litigationThe idea of civil litigation started during the latter years of medieval England. It was necessary to distinguish between crimes hostile to the government, actionable matters, and a variety of harms against individuals, civil matters. This part of the law is also known as “tort law.” Tort comes from a Latin word, torquere, ‘to twist’. With tort law increasing in England, there became a need for people who would specialize in this particular slice of the legal profession. Enter the civil litigator.

What Does an Attorney Do?

When you hire, or retain, legal counsel, he will take a look at your situation and decide if you have a justified claim. The lawyer will register the complaint and stand with you as your representative in court. Many times issues such as monetary damages will settle before the case even goes to trial.
What are the Benefits of Hiring an Attorney

By having an attorney work for you, you obviously will have someone knowledgeable with which to confer and talk over the legal aspects. Having someone manage the litigation of your case can make the whole process less stressful. A lawyer will find out if you want to resolve the case out of court or let it go to trial, giving you control of your case’s course. A good deal of attorneys work on a contingency basis. You don’t ante up unless you are victorious, or settle, your case. A usual fee is in the range of 33 percent of the total recuperated.

Attorney-Client Privilege

Once you’ve retained a lawyer and spoken to him regarding your circumstance, the attorney-client privilege has started. Once begun, the attorney cannot share with anyone about what you and he have talked about in private. Also, at trial, an attorney cannot testify to any information or knowledge that they became aware of during the attorney-client privilege. The privilege also remains in force after the attorney has ceased to represent you.

Common Misconceptions

Many people have the idea that civil litigation attorneys are simply out for themselves, are crooks or “ambulance chasers.” These characterizations may be true for a small portion, but certainly not all. Many attorneys receive personal satisfaction in helping someone who may not have known their legal rights. Your attorney is required to represent you with “zeal and competence.” An attorney violating this principle, may find himself on the receiving end of a malpractice lawsuit.

Conclusion

A good attorney will be a tremendous asset for someone seeking to recover monetary damages or to force, or prevent, a third party from acting in a prescribed way. An attorney can guide you through the labyrinthian jungle which the legal affair can become. Exercise due diligence in finding, and hiring, an attorney that suites your needs. You don’t need to retain the first lawyer you meet Instead, hire the one with whom you are comfortable and feel will do the best job representing you and your needs.

SkyRiver Tech and Innovative Interfaces Seeks Access to “OCLC’s Unlawfully Acquired Database” in Unfair Competition Complaint

In case you missed it and I certainly did until yesterday when I received this emailed statement from OCLC, SkyRiver Technology Solutions and Innovative Interfaces, Inc. filed suit against OCLC, alleging anticompetitive practices in the US District Court for the Northern District of California on July 29th (Docket No. 10-cv-03305-BZ) Download the Complaint here. According to the plaintiffs in this lawsuit, OCLC is “unlawfully monopolizing the bibliographic data, cataloging service and interlibrary lending markets and is attempting to monopolize the market for integrated library systems by anticompetitive and exclusionary agreements, policies and practice.”

Two more snips from the Complaint:

This case is about defendant OCLC’s exclusionary agreements, punitive pricing, unlawful tying arrangements and its refusal to deal with for-profit firms in violation of the antitrust laws in order to maintain its monopolies and to destroy a new entrant in the market for library cataloging services in competition with OCLC. This case is also about defendant OCLC’s entry into the integrated library systems market and its use of its monopoly power over its bibliographic database, cataloging service and worldwide interlibrary lending service to attempt to monopolize the integrated library systems market through unlawful, anticompetitive conduct and anticompetitive agreements that it imposes on its member libraries and its refusal to all for-profit firms to access its database for commercial purposes.
… This action is brought to obtain relief from the injuries suffered by plaintiffs, including access to OCLC’s unlawfully acquired database, and for the benefit of all libraries, their patrons and consumers by assuring that competition exists in all aspects of electronic bibliographic data compilation and library systems and service.

OCLC states in its announcement:

OCLC’s General Counsel, working with trial counsel, will respond to this regrettable action by SkyRiver and Innovative Interfaces following procedures and timetables dictated by the court. This process will likely take months or even years, not days.

In the meantime, we want to assure the OCLC membership and all 72,000 libraries that use one or more OCLC services that these spurious allegations will not divert us from our current plans and activities. These include maintaining and enhancing existing services, pursuing an ambitious agenda in library research and advocacy, and introducing new Web-scale (cloud) services. Indeed, OCLC has been a global leader in providing cloud-based services for libraries since 1971, and the next generation of these services holds great promise for reducing member library costs.

See also Marshall Breeding’s LJ report:

[The litigation] also represents the culmination of concerns expressed by some vendors and librarians that OCLC has used its tax-exempt status to behave not only as a giant library utility but a hard-nosed business.

OCLC Circa Mid-1970s.

Ah, to return to the good old days during the mid-1970s when I first saw OCLC’s cataloging module in action and, as a Serials Technical Assistant in an academic library, was eagerly waiting for Serials to come online. It was something to behold.

Of course, we were also producing printed catalog card records back then that had to be filed but, luckily, that wasn’t my job because I was too busy checking in serials the old school cardex way.