
An Explanation of the Civil Litigation Process
Every profession has it’s own unique procedures and lexicon. If I went to a plumbers’ convention, I’m sure I wouldn’t know half of what they were talking about.
I have to remind myself of this periodically, because during a conversation with a prospective client I’ll use basic legal terms like “summons”, “complaint” and “answer”, assuming the person knows what I am talking about, only to realize as the conversation progresses that they are not familiar with even those terms. I communicate like crazy with my clients, following the method tell them what you are going to say, tell them, and then tell them what you said. Indeed, I can’t imagine a more communicative lawyer. Yet even well into a case, I occasionally find that a client has a fundamental misunderstanding of the process.
The following video is by a San Francisco attorney. He provides a very basic description of the litigation process from beginning to end. The video is simple but very well done, and is a great resource if you are looking for a broad overview of the litigation process.