The legal profession is one of the oldest in the world. But despite its tradition, it’s more varied than most people think. There are many different roles and specializations within the industry.
Generally, the word ‘lawyer’ conjures up an image of a professional in a smart suit standing in a courtroom. A ‘litigator’, on the other hand, is often synonymous with someone wearing a white wig and black dress robes.
However, beyond the attire, there are additional differences to the roles of lawyers and litigators. If you’re not completely sure what they are, we’re here to help.
Here’s the difference between a lawyer and a litigator.
What’s a Lawyer?
As mentioned, most of us view litigators as legal professionals dressed in black robes, passionately arguing their client’s case in a courtroom. However, did you know that lawyers work in many different environments, including for law firms, in government, and for corporations? Some lawyers never go before the courts, as courtroom trials are a last step in the litigation process.
Many lawyers also specialize in very specific areas of the law. For example, these can include family, contract, corporate and estates law.
Lawyers handle a wide range of cases, from divorce, accident, labour disputes, wills, estates, and a whole lot more. They also offer legal advice and represent their clients.
The Work of a Lawyer
A lawyer’s work is varied, but the duties can generally be broken down into three focused activities. These are offering advice on potential legal solutions, representing clients against other parties or in front of a judge in court, and performing legal research and organizing legal documents such as laws and regulations.
When it comes to providing advice, lawyers are usually specialists in one or a few areas of law. This is because it’s impossible to be aware of all the laws that exist in a country, especially when there’s an influx of new laws passing each day. That means lawyers usually focus on one of several sectors of law, such as those mentioned above.
When giving legal advice, lawyers generally cover presenting potential solutions to a client’s legal issues, advising a client on choices that may offer legal ramifications, and explaining legal issues and the selection of available options for the client to make an appropriate decision.
When representing clients, lawyers perform on their behalf because they need a professional with specialized knowledge of the law that they are unlikely to have. A lawyer can’t represent someone without being given the authority to do so, so the decision is in the client’s hands. Generally, a lawyer negotiates with the opposing parties on behalf of the client either by mail, over the phone, or in person.
When representing a person in court, the lawyer will argue the case in accordance with the mandate presented by the client. But as mentioned previously, decisions from the courts tend to be a last resort. Usually, lawyers attempt to resolve their client’s issues by other means like mediation, negotiation, or arbitration.
In Canada, lawyers can be both barristers and solicitors. That means lawyers could cover both roles. In some situations, some lawyers do perform both roles, but most lawyers usually focus on one role over the other.
What’s a Litigator?
Now that we’ve covered exactly what a lawyer is, let’s go over the role of a litigator.
A litigator is another word for a barrister, as in a courtroom lawyer. In Canada, generally the word ‘litigator’ is more commonly used than ‘barrister’. So, while lawyers can work in many different areas of the legal industry, including in the courtroom as a litigator, a litigator can only be a courtroom lawyer.
Let’s delve a bit more into the role. A litigator is a qualified legal professional who provides specialist advice while representing, advocating, and defending clients within a court or at a tribunal. Like lawyers, many litigators focus on one area of the law, although a litigator can have a more general knowledge of law, covering a diverse range of areas.
That means a litigator who specializes in family law may not be the ideal choice to represent you at a criminal trial.
The Work of a Litigator
It’s important to note that not all litigators spend all their time in the courtroom. Today, many litigators don’t go to court regularly or even at all.
So how can a litigator be a courtroom lawyer if they don’t go to the court, you may wonder? Because their work is focused on the court process, along with arbitration, mediation, and administrative tribunals. This can often involve creating pleadings, attending examinations for discovery, preparing for hearings, and advocacy.
When legal disputes are introduced to the court system, litigators are retained to appear, as they’re experts within courtroom advocacy and preparing issues for trial. As most people imagine, litigators in Canada will also sometimes don a black robe in court when appearing.
Litigators often work independently as self-employed or as sole practitioners rather than in a law firm. That means they’re often responsible for seeking work for themselves. Litigators generally build and maintain a client base by creating and cultivating strong professional relationships with solicitors and law firms, and they may end up being retained by solicitors on behalf of clients.
Sometimes, litigators work in quarters called ‘chambers’. These chambers consist of a shared space that are often located close to court where several litigators work together.
So, a ‘lawyer’ is an umbrella term for covering both roles of solicitors and litigators. That means a lawyer can be a litigator.
But a litigator focuses on working as a courtroom lawyer.
