Understanding Litigation Support
When attorneys receive a case, there is often a lot of research and fact finding to be done. They need to understand the case as fully as possible in order to stand up in court and plead their case. Due to the fact that there is a lot of research to be done, they often turn to litigation support.
It is consultants who tend to offer litigation support. They are hired by the lawyer to put together the facts of a case. A good example of litigation support is the expert witness services provided by forensic accountancy firms. They can also be used to work out the estimated damages associated after a case has been tried. The duties of the litigation support worker will vary depending upon the needs of each attorney.
Another type of service that is offered in litigation support is working out whether an appeal should be filed if a case is lost. They will go through the evidence with an attorney and determine whether they have missed anything along the way. Sometimes an appeal may be made due to new findings from litigation support workers. Similarly, if a case is won the support worker could help the attorney to figure out how they are going to collect the damages that have been awarded.
The job of the litigation support worker runs both before and after the case has been tried in court. Again, it depends upon the needs of the attorney. Sometimes a case is quite straight forward and no litigation support is needed. However, for larger cases in particular such as fraud, litigation support can prove to be vital.
The fees for this type of service vary massively. Each support worker will charge a different fee. Some will charge a flat fee whilst others will prefer to be paid hourly or they will quote each job individually. The workers themselves do not have to have a degree, though many attorneys do prefer this type of qualification. Overall, without litigation support it would make the attorneys life much harder!
Related posts: