What is Litigation and Litigation Hold

What Is Litigation

There are two kinds of laws that govern a nation. These are criminal law and civil law. Civil law deals with disputes between individuals, groups, companies or organizations. Some of the cases that fall under civil law are contract and property disputes, wills, trusts and administrative and commercial law. People or groups who encounter any of these situations usually resort to litigation. What is litigation?

It’s important to know what is litigation, if you face any of these situations. Litigation is also called legal process. It involves the whole legal process from filing the case to the court to getting the decision of the judge. Whoever wins the case will be given compensation by the other party, that’s why this is something that complainants of civil law offenses turn to. Litigation is different from arbitration. With arbitration, a mediator will help both parties to talk things out without the court’s intervention. But if this is not successful, then they can move to the litigation process in which the court will make the final decision. For example, if one company files a case in the court against another company who is said to use its trademark, then the litigation process begins. Both parties can represent themselves or hire a lawyer to represent them. The parties involved as well as the lawyers are all litigators. The one who filed for the case is called the plaintiff and the person or group charged is called defendant.

When litigation process starts, litigation hold is required for both parties. What is litigation hold? This is also called hold orders or preservation orders. It’s about storing and securing files, documents or anything that will be needed for the litigation process. These items and information need to be secured to prevent any alteration that may affect the legal process.

Now that you have basic knowledge of the litigation process, you will know the steps that you need to do if you have any civil law concerns. If you need to know more what is litigation, you can read law books on the public library or you may consult a lawyer.