Litigation Attorneys - Dayton Ohio 

Franklin, Montgomery, and Greene County

Litigation is any lawsuit or other resort to the courts to determine a legal question or matter. Lawyers who devote time to arguing disputed issues in court are referred to as litigators and those they represent -plaintiffs and defendants- are referred to as litigants. Litigation begins with initial court papers that define the parties' legal positions. After the initial activity, lawyers argue their respective sides in settlement negotiations. If the two parties cannot reach a settlement the case will go to trial and possibly an appeals process as well.

Litigation involves many complex legal issues that require knowledge of the law that governs the dispute and the law governing the procedures to properly litigate a claim. There are rules governing who may file a claim, where it must be filed, when it must be filed, and how to file it.

Many states have enacted, or are considering, reforms directed at shortening the time a case takes to get to trial and minimizing the expense traditionally associated with litigation. Among these reforms are:

• Fast track rules that prohibit delays and require each phase of the case to be completed within a particular period of time
• Limits on how much information can be obtained from the opposing party
• Requirements that certain types of cases be arbitrated (a simpler procedure) rather than pushed through the court system
• Requirements that attorneys inform their clients of alternative dispute resolution procedures such as mediation
• Court-sponsored techniques such as mini-trials and early neutral evaluation that are designed to get the parties to settle by giving them a realistic assessment of what is likely to happen if the case goes to trial