You probably hope you’ll never get into a situation where you’ll need a trial attorney. However, whether you’re a defendant or plaintiff, such an instance may arise. Nobody plans for it, but if it happens, you must ensure you get an attorney who has stepped into a courtroom before and won’t get stage fright if they must argue in front of a judge and jury.
The advantages of working with trial attorneys in court become obvious if you’re facing a tricky legal situation. You can’t argue on your own behalf, whether you’re the plaintiff or defendant.
To put it more accurately, you could represent yourself, but presumably, you don’t have requisite legal expertise. Hiring a lawyer with no trial experience won’t work much better, since such an individual might not have the poise and oratory skills required.
Let’s talk about five of the most common times when you will want to have an experienced trial lawyer on your side. Having one in these situations might very well get you the result you wanted, whether that’s keeping you out of jail, winning you some money, or some other outcome entirely.
Employment Discrimination Cases
Employment discrimination cases can get ugly in a hurry. Often, you might feel like an employer discriminated against you based on something like your gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or something else. However, while these situations happen fairly often, you can’t always easily prove them.
You’ll certainly want to retain the services of a lawyer who has extensive experience in a courtroom. It’s possible the company that discriminated against you will settle out of court, but that’s far from definite.
Your lawyer will try to uncover any evidence that proves what you say happened. Maybe this company that you’re accusing was foolish enough to leave written evidence of why they turned you down for employment. Sometimes, emails or text messages can help your case.
Your lawyer can also use their negotiation and oratory skills before the case ever reaches trial, though. Their presence might force a settlement offer due to the strength of their legal mastery alone.
If the company’s representatives want to play hard ball, that likely means you’re going to court, where your lawyer can really shine. Ideally, you want to hire an attorney who likes the spotlight and can argue forcefully on your behalf in front of a jury when they get the chance.
Contested Divorces
You may also go through a messy divorce. No one marries thinking that one day they will dissolve the relationship with lots of arguing and a general sense of acrimony, but it happens more often than you might think.
In such an instance, your lawyer can stand up for you to try and get the assets that you care about the most. Maybe that’s the house, the car, art objects, collectibles, silverware, or just about anything else to which you assign value. Perhaps you care about only certain objects that you own, but your soon-to-be ex tries to gain possession of them just to spite you.
Your lawyer can hopefully get you the best deal at a time when you’re likely miserable. They can stand as your advocate.
They can also help you with child custody disputes if you have children with your ex. Maybe you don’t care about the material possessions you once shared with this person, but you want equal time with your kids more than anything else.
Complicated Civil Proceedings
You may need an experienced trial lawyer if you must deal with some complex civil proceedings. Those might include disputes with large sums of money on the line.
Maybe you and someone else feel that you should get the credit for an invention. Perhaps you both think you created some kind of intellectual property, and the rights to it could net you millions.
You will also need a trial lawyer if you’re in a property dispute with another party. Maybe a parent or some other relative left you a house or some land and you must contest the matter with other family members who feel they should get it instead.
Any time you have messy civil proceedings, you want a lawyer standing with you who has a sharp mind and knows the laws that can help you. Any business dispute, breach of contract claim, or any other civil matter also requires such an individual.
Criminal Defense
Maybe the police or someone else says you did something that could land you in jail for years. Perhaps you did it, or maybe you didn’t. Either way, you’re likely to get the best possible outcome only if you have a skilled trial lawyer.
You want someone who knows how to argue on your behalf without infuriating a judge. Part of the legal system involves working within the law’s framework, but there’s some tact and diplomacy involved as well.
The right trial lawyer might be able to get you off the hook entirely, or perhaps they can get a prosecutor to drop some grave charges down to less serious ones. For instance, maybe you can get a fine and community service instead of jail time if it’s a first offense. If you’re innocent and won’t take a plea bargain, maybe your lawyer can argue on your behalf so skillfully in front of a jury that they’ll find you not guilty.
Personal Injury Cases
You will definitely want a trial lawyer with plenty of courtroom experience if you’re suing a person or business entity. Such cases work their way through the court system constantly, but they don’t always have the outcome that the plaintiff wanted.
The right lawyer can gather the evidence you need to successfully present the facts of your case at trial if it comes to that. They might also convince the defendant that they should settle with you. That way, you’re spared a lot of time in the courtroom but you’ll hopefully still have a satisfactory payday.
