What is a commercial litigator?
Commercial litigation must be approached with the correct resources for any chance of success. It’s a broad field and the lawyers who work in it are highly educated and practiced to excel in their specialties.
To understand commercial litigation, one must define civil litigation, which is the outcome of a non-criminal legal dispute between two or more parties. In civil litigation, parties typically sue to uphold or protect a legal right, and the party filing the lawsuit (the Plaintiff) seeks to be rewarded by either monetary damages or some other action.
When one or more of these parties is a corporate entity or partnership, it becomes a commercial dispute. Comparing commercial and corporate litigation to conventional civil litigation cases reveals both similarities and distinctions, which will become clearer once you comprehend what a commercial disagreement is and how it differs from other types of conflicts.
The process of commercial litigation and other civil lawsuits is typically the same. The Plaintiff retains counsel, the attorneys for both sides conduct factual investigations, the attorneys for both sides research relevant legislation, hold settlement discussions, the Plaintiff’s attorney files the lawsuit, the attorneys for both sides conduct discovery, the attorneys for both sides participate in motion practice, the case is tried before a judge or jury, the parties file motions post-trial, and any other steps that may be necessary depending on the particular case.
All of the following case types fall under the category of commercial litigation and would be best handled by a commercial litigator, however, this list is by no means complete –
- Antitrust Lawsuits
- Contract-related violations
- Class-action litigation
- Debtor or Creditor Actions
- Workplace Cases
- Cases of Insurance Coverage
- Cases involving infringement of intellectual property (IP) and patents
- Workplace Cases
- Tax Conflicts
What Do Commercial Litigators Do?
An attorney who specializes in commercial litigation will have received specialized education, training, and experience in cases involving businesses. Depending on whether they are assigned to represent a business client or a person in such a matter, a lawyer’s job will involve different responsibilities from case to case.
