When people find themselves in need of legal help, they often do not know where to turn to. Many people have concerns about how much talking to an attorney is going to cost them and are pretty sure that they cannot afford the fees of an attorney, let alone all of the costs related to their legal issues that may be coming their way.
Expert Legal Opinions and Legal Information
While we are not a law firm we can provide general info to help guide you in the process. There are many, many, many different reasons why someone might need an attorney. Some people need attorneys to help them with criminal charges. Some people need attorneys to help them sue parties who have harmed them while other people need attorneys to defend themselves against people doing this. Some people need attorneys to manage the legal side of their businesses and/or their finances. Some people need attorneys to help them with family affairs such as an adoption, prenuptial agreement, divorce or child custody.
If you or someone you care about is in need of legal help and don’t know where to start, you may find it helpful to read this overview of the legal field. It may help you to understand what you are looking for as well as to provide tips and information that may make your search a bit easier than if you started out with knowing little except that you need an attorney.
A good place to begin with determining what kind of attorney you need is to delineate the difference between criminal and civil claims.
Law Claim Basics
While these definitions are accurate, they may not give enough information to help you determine what kind of attorney you might need.
Civil Law
Civil law is the system of law concerned with private relations between members of a community rather than criminal, military, or religious affairs.
Criminal Law
Criminal law is a system of law concerned with the punishment of those who commit crimes.
Civil Law
Civil law deals with disputes between one party and another. A civil lawsuit can be filed by a private or public entity against a private or public entity. The party who files the suit is the plaintiff and the party or parties the plaintiff claim wronged, are the defendants. An example of this is that a city agency can sue another city or state agency, or they can sue a private person or party. A private person or party can sue another private person or party, or they can sue a public agency, etc.
Criminal Law
Criminal law deals with crimes against the state or federal government even though this may be misleading because a party does not have to do something that is specifically directed towards the government or a government official for them to have committed a crime. Rather, when a party breaks a state or federal law, such as robbing someone, it is a crime against the state because the party broke a law of the state. A criminal lawsuit can only be filed by the government whose law was broken by the offending party, where the state is the prosecutor and the party that is accused of the crime is the defendant.
There are many claims that fall under both criminal and civil jurisdiction. A party may be tried for the same offense in both, a separate criminal trial and a separate civil trial. An example of this is if a party is accused of murder, they will likely be tried in a criminal trial. The family of the deceased may also file a wrongful death civil lawsuit to try to gain compensation from the accused and/or their insurance company.