What does this practice area consist of?
When an individual who is unaware of the inner workings of the legal world is asked about what they think a lawyer does, the role of a litigator is likely to spring to mind. Precisely, litigation is the process of taking legal action, with litigation solicitors employed to help clients resolve civil or commercial disputes.
Disputes work can range heavily, depending on the sub-set of work undertaken, or your firm’s speciality. For example, at a high-street firm, you could find yourself dealing with the matter of unpaid bills, while at a City firm, the work may involve copyrights or media wrangles. Beyond this, processes can stretch into arbitration or to a trial, though this process is incredibly expensive.
What are the tasks of dispute resolution lawyers?
- To interview witnesses and prepare witness statements. These can offer a basis for whether a case should go to trial or be settled out of court. The development of a case strategy is a crucial skill for the lawyers involved.
- To bundle documents supporting the case. This may be relatively tedious, but the payoff if successful in the case may prove euphoric.
- Advise and brief barristers if a case goes to a trial or arbitration.
- Though an additional qualification is needed to advocate for a client in court, solicitors should attend a client’s hearing, and aid the barristers during these.
- Despite not advocating for a client in court, solicitors should represent clients at pre-trial hearings and case management conferences.
What are the realities of the job?
- Cases often stretch on for years. As a trainee in a large firm, you may be unlikely to see cases reach their conclusion. If seeing things open and shut quickly sounds preferable, a transactional team may be a better fit. For example, the litigation involving the Lehman Brothers has been continuously ongoing since the financial crash.
- Working hours are typically driven by the courts. This leads to greater stability in hours than in a transactional team, though if an injunction is filed, this stability can be warped for a period.
- Litigators must be concise, eloquent, and articulate.
- Though this is said in almost all my articles, strong organisational skills are a must. The opening of a litigator’s career involves “glorified admin”, as tasks involve copying documents to provide to the parties involved.
- Responsibility is likely to be low for junior employees in large firms. The extent to which your responsibility grows is dependent on your ability to complete simpler tasks. Perform well, and you will find yourself with more interesting tasks. This may differ in some US firms, where leaner teams mean more responsibility for junior employees.
- A fierce intellect is needed to manoeuvre within the system and generate positive results.
Ten firms with a noted presence in this area:
- Allen & Overy
- Clifford Chance
- Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
- Gibson Dunn
- Herbert Smith Freehills
- Hogan Lovells
- Linklaters
- Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
- Slaughter and May
- Travers Smith
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