Jobs, Functions and Responsibilities of a Civil Lawyer
A Civil Lawyer is one who solely focuses on civil law only and has no role to play in the criminal cases and proceedings. Civil law consists of areas like family law, probate, intellectual property law, taxation laws, business, real estate, personal injury law and others. The law relating to civil wrongs and quasi-contracts are part of the civil law. Civil law covers any type of legal case that is unrelated to criminal activities or criminal law.
Civil lawyers differ from criminal lawyers in that criminal lawyers defend the defendant against criminal charges while a civil lawyer handles non-criminal litigation. Their job requires them to present evidence and argue in civil court to support their clients. Civil law involves a private party, which could be an individual or company, that wishes to file a lawsuit against another party and therefore becomes the plaintiff. The burden of proof falls on the plaintiff to prove its case. His job involves presenting cases before judges, deciphering laws and rulings for individuals, companies and organizations, negotiating settlements of legal disputes, investigating legal data, formulating legal briefs, filing legal appeals in higher courts on the behalf of their clients.
A civil lawyer works to find resolutions to matters unconnected to criminal disagreements like differences concerning the definition of contractual agreements, property possession, custody disputes involving minors, divorces and other matrimonial disputes like maintenance and alimony, and compensation sought for individual and/or property loss or impairment in cases of torts and defamation. He deals with cases that comprise of private individuals, companies and in some cases governmental or state agencies. He works on behalf of private clients, business houses or government entities to resolve disputes and legal issues. They do not work with criminal cases, but rather they deal with the law pertaining to people, relationships and property. A civil lawyer performs similar job tasks like other lawyers. They may take depositions from their own or opposing parties' witnesses investigate pertinent laws to identify the best arguments to make and argue their cases in court trials. They also draft legal documents and, in some cases, negotiate settlements. The governing law of civil law is different from that of criminal law.
In order to become a civil lawyer, a student has to first complete full-time law course. After successfully completing the law course, a student has to clear the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) which is mandatory to practice in the courts. The focus of civil law remains on topics, like civil procedure, property law, matrimonial law, contracts and torts. So, the job of the civil lawyer involves filing or defending a private party, which can be an individual or a company, in civil matters. Hence, civil lawyer work is totally unrelated to criminal law and proceedings.
