There are two types of laws in the United States that are meant to hold individuals who commit a wrongful act accountable or compensate victims for illegal acts. These two branches of law are known as criminal law and civil law.
Simply put, a Wisconsin civil litigation attorney is an attorney that practices state and federal civil laws in civil court. Civil law is the set of laws that address behaviors of one party that result in some injury or harm to another individual or other private party. Civil laws also encompass other matters surrounding issues between two parties, such as family law matters.
Generally speaking, most civil law cases in Wisconsin are tort cases. Although the exact definition of what constitutes a tort varies by state, the term “tort to the person” in Wisconsin refers to an act involving or consisting of an injury to one’s person, reputation, or feelings, which is distinguished from an injury or damage to real or personal property. Personal injury or negligence cases cover the latter.
Tort violations and civil lawsuits may occur either due to the intentional actions of a party, the negligent actions or inaction of a party, or by the party violating certain laws. Once again, if a tort or harmful act is committed, Wisconsin law grants the victim the legal right to civilly sue the person who allegedly harmed them.
Civil laws in Wisconsin include dozens of different causes of action, which result in numerous types of civil cases being heard. Examples of the most common types of cases heard in civil court that pertain to civil laws include:
- Cases involving the negligent actions of another person, such as car accidents;
- Cases involving the fraudulent actions of another person;
- Cases involving breaches of contracts, such as sales contracts or service contracts;
- Cases involving intentional physical torts such as civil battery or assault;
- Cases involving intentional property torts such as conversion or other theft crimes;
- Cases involving emotional torts, such as defamation, libel, slander, and/or an invasion of privacy.
As mentioned above, in addition to the above cases involving injuries to one’s person or property, the other major type of cases that makeup a significant portion of Wisconsin’s civil court’s caseload are cases involving family law and administrative matters.
Wisconsin civil courts also hear other civil matters between two parties, including issues surrounding:
- Visitation and custody of children;
- Advisory matters;
- Spousal maintenance or alimony;
- Child support;
- The loss of parental rights;
- Paternity and adoption;
- Child abuse and child neglect matters.
When to Hire a Civil Litigation Attorney?
Once again, when a person in Wisconsin is harmed in some way as a result of another party’s actions, they are legally allowed to file a civil lawsuit against the wrongdoer. A local Wisconsin lawyer will be most familiar with Wisconsin’s civil laws and statutes, as well as the entire civil procedure process involved in suing a party for damages.
It is often in your best interests to enlist the aid of an attorney as soon as possible. This is because enlisting the aid of an attorney earlier may result in fewer issues arising later on during the lawsuit.
An attorney will also be able to assist you in identifying the party responsible for your damages and help you hold them responsible for their tortious actions in the most efficient way possible. Further, if your civil matter is a family matter, an attorney will be familiar with the laws and civil process involved in pursuing those matters as well.
What to Expect from Your Civil Law Attorney?
When it comes to what you can expect from a civil law attorney, you should expect the attorney to handle all of the major aspects of your civil lawsuit. The exact major aspects of a civil lawsuit will depend on the type of lawsuit that you are involved in.
In general, an attorney will be able to assist you throughout every phase of your lawsuit, including:
- Pre-lawsuit Phase: During the pre-lawsuit phase, an attorney will meet with you to understand your specific legal issues and attempt to resolve your case without the necessity of filing a lawsuit.
- If the attorney is unable to resolve your case without a lawsuit, the attorney will then assist you in drafting the necessary lawsuit, properly serving it on the defendant, and continuing to pursue the lawsuit;
- Pre-trial Phase: After a lawsuit has been filed, there are many different events that will occur, such as conducting discovery, which is the formal process by which one party will serve requests upon the other party or parties involved in the lawsuit to gather information to support their civil claims.
- An attorney will also be able to represent you at any in-person proceedings prior to a final trial, such as handling pre-trial motions or temporary hearings;
- Trial Phase: If your case is not settled prior to trial, then a civil litigation lawyer will be able to represent you in court in front of the judge or jury by arguing your claims, questioning witnesses, and formally introducing evidence gathered in the previous stage of the lawsuit;
- Post-trial Phase: After a case has been concluded, an attorney may still be involved in the case by collecting and disbursing the funds that were recovered from the civil lawsuit.
- An attorney may also continue to represent you if an appeal of the ruling in the case is needed.
In addition to all of the above, the main thing that you should expect of a civil attorney is that they will keep you well informed of your case. This means that you should always expect your civil attorney to inform you of all of your settlement options, resolutions, work performed on the case, and payments needed. In fact, attorneys are obligated to keep their clients informed of their cases.
How Much Does a Civil Attorney Cost?
When it comes to calculating the total cost of a civil attorney, the total cost of civil suit lawyers will vary widely. This is because the costs for a civil attorney will be dependent upon a number of differing factors, including but not limited to:
- The area of law in the attorney practices;
- The areas of law that the plaintiff’s individual claim encompasses;
- The attorney’s level of experience, such as their years of practice and whether or not they are bar-certified in their practice area;
- The attorney’s reputation in the industry;
- The difficulty of the case;
- The location in which the attorney practices, as different cities have different cost averages;
- The total amount of time that is spent either pursuing or defending the lawsuit.
In general, the most important factor used in calculating the total cost of a civil attorney is the amount of time that it will take to finish the case. This is because, in civil lawsuits, the contracts executed between clients and the attorney are most often hourly contracts.
In an hourly contract fee agreement, an attorney will agree to take a case based on the client paying the attorney an hourly rate for work and work is completed on the case. In most cases, the attorney will request an upfront “retainer” to start the case, which is a payment made by the client to secure the services of the attorney.
The attorney will then bill against the retainer as work is completed and ask that the client make sure the retainer is refreshed as work is completed on the client’s case. For example, an attorney may require an upfront retainer of $3,000. The attorney will then work the case, such as filing discovery to gather evidence, drafting motions and pleadings, taking depositions of key witnesses, and representing their client in court for pre-trial motions or other in-person court matters.
If the attorney’s hourly fee is $300 per hour, then the retainer would be depleted after 10 hours of work on the case. As such, the client would have to replenish the retainer so the attorney could continue representing them. As can be seen, this makes the most important factor in determining the total cost of a civil attorney is the amount of time needed to finish the case.
There are also other common fees in a civil case, such as court filing fees, expert witness fees, fees to certified copies of documents, mailing fees, and fees for process servers, to name a few.
Do You Need a Civil Attorney?
As can be seen, there are numerous laws and procedures that you must be familiar with when pursuing a civil case against another party. As such, if you are involved in a civil lawsuit in Wisconsin or are seeking to file a lawsuit as a result of a legal issue that you are facing, then it is in your best interests to consult with an experienced civil litigation attorney in Wisconsin.
A civil litigation attorney will be able to help you determine your best course of legal action and can also answer any questions that you may have regarding your particular legal issues. LegalMatch can assist you in locating an attorney and setting up a consultation with them.
Further, an attorney will also be knowledgeable about Wisconsin’s civil laws and civil procedure. This means that the attorney will be able to represent you throughout the entire civil legal process, should you choose to retain them to represent you. Finally, an attorney will also be able to represent your interests in court, as needed.
