Finding an Attorney to Sue a Company

Types of Attorneys That Sue a Company

If you are at the point where you need to bring a lawsuit against a company, you may have no idea what type of lawyers are out there for the purpose of being hired. Here is a breakdown of some of the types of lawyers out there who sue companies.
Commercial litigation attorneys: these lawyers either represent companies who are suing or representing people who are suing companies (many times in breach of contract cases). While some commercial litigation lawyers may be considered in the commercial space, for our purposes the term is applied purely to litigators who are working with or against companies.
Employment lawyers: while not all employment lawsuits are against a company (some are against people, some against government entities) , there are enough cases brought against companies by employees that we included employment lawyers in this list. This field is somewhat unique in that there are some lawyers who represent only employees (those suing companies) and some lawyers who represent just companies (those being sued by employees). This is helpful for employees because they can be assured that the lawyer they are hiring has extensive experience in representing just the employees.
Civil litigation attorneys: while most lawyers who would be considered "civil" litigators would fall under the commercial litigation umbrella, not all do. The term is somewhat broad in the sense that commercial litigation (against companies) is merely one type of civil litigation. Without the commercial component, lawsuits could include: personal injury cases, contracts between private individuals, or any number of individual disputes that do not include a company.

When to Hire a Commercial Litigation Attorney

You have a business dispute with your contractor. You tried to get him to make things right and he refuses. Or you have a dispute with a supplier or customer. It may be over contract terms, or it could be that you provided your services to the customer and they refuse to pay. It can be a dispute between business partners. You may no longer want to be partners and want them removed from the company, or mission. Or it may be a video game or other digital product you created, and another company is using the same code or material. Or you have a proprietary trade secret that another party is taking advantage of, or even the sale of your company. These are commercial disputes. And when you need a commercial litigation lawyer, you will know it. They represent you in all aspects of a variety of legal and business issues. Most commercial litigation centers around issues such as breach of contract. What the contract involved, such as the sale or shipping of goods or services. If the other party has not lived up to the contract, what can be done to seek compensation? Resolving the matter can often be performed out of court in a settlement. Or it may be necessary to go through arbitration or mediation first before court is a necessity. While a commercial litigation attorney is there to represent your legal interests, there are times when an amicable resolution can happen. Any business or organization could face a contract law issue. It may involve a claim that a company did not receive the product it ordered, or as agreed upon or with the specifications they desired. It can also involve franchising or advertising claims. If a party is accused of fraud, or if the company is in the middle of a dispute between business partners, a commercial litigation lawyer can help. Part of the business tort litigation process may include misappropriated trade secrets, intellectual property, or other types of technologies. If your business disagrees with another state or federal government, a commercial litigation lawyer can represent your case which involves administrative law. It is important to understand how commercial litigation represents a variety of disputes, and how a good commercial litigation attorney can help guide a business through the complex legal proceedings that are involved.

How an Employment Attorney Can Help

As discussed in the prior section, if the legal rights of an injured employee are violated, that employee has a legal right to sue the corporation responsible for the injuries. An employment lawyer can assist an injured employee in evaluating whether a lawsuit is worth pursuing, and whether the lawyer will be able to sue a company for violating the employee’s legal rights.
Injured employees should always consult an employment lawyer before suing a company in the event that an injury would have gone unnoticed by a layman. Serious injuries like these must be dealt with immediately in order avoid having a case dismissed in court by argument of the statute of limitations. In order to best protect the client, employment lawyers usually require a fee charged at an hourly rate, or a percentage of the recovery awarded in a lawsuit. The percentage offered will vary by jurisdiction and the financial status of the company being sued. Early legal representation is vital in these cases, as companies with higher income may have a greater incentive to settle if the case is a stronger one.

How to Find the Best Attorney for You

When selecting a lawyer who will handle your case to sue a company, there are several factors to consider in determining if that attorney is right for you. The first thing to consider is just the experience the attorney has handling cases like yours. Does he or she focus their practice on this type of law? If the person doesn’t have substantial experience, that may be OK, but it’s going to be something that you need to consider when deciding if they’re the right person for you. Sometimes if the attorney is new, they will often partner with or have some kind of relationship with more experienced attorneys to help them out and maybe mentor them through the process. Getting your business and acting as lead counsel is certainly not going to be something that the inexperienced lawyer will typically do.
Another factor is how much of your time is the attorney actually going to spend on your case. I know that when people hire us they assume all we do is handle their case. But in reality attorneys have almost all of their time allocated. So if you have a relatively small case, it’s going to be very difficult for that attorney to spend too much time on your file or your case, unless it’s a unique or special matter that is going to be worth their time monetarily. On the other hand if and when we take on larger cases or cases that have unique opportunities, it’s the opposite. It’s going to take priority and they’re going to be able to devote a significant amount of time to it, especially when it comes to preparing for trial.
Something else you need to ask yourself, and again this doesn’t apply to everyone. But what are that attorney’s expectations from this case moving forward as far as fees? A lot of attorneys do work on a contingent fee basis and there are a lot of very knowledgeable attorneys out there . But if you need someone who can get something done right away because there’s some kind of urgency to your case, having someone who’s working on a contingent fee basis as opposed to hourly is going to be a concern. Many times when you go to an attorney who works on a contingent basis, the hourly fees may be comparable to what the attorney charged on a non-contingent basis, but what you’re really getting is the attorney’s time and expertise for free. It’s not always the case or almost never is it the case, that the attorney works for free, but it’s almost like being a volunteer attorney. At least from what our experience has been. Now, again this is only relevant to those who have an urgent situation or really need someone who’s going to spend a significant amount of time on the case in a short timeframe, but it’s definitely something that you ought to consider.
Last but certainly not least, ask yourself how comfortable are you with this particular attorney. If you’re picking out a divorce attorney, you don’t want someone whom you can’t sit down with and discuss issues in your case with a level of comfort, who you don’t feel listened to or aren’t being understood and won’t ask the questions that you think are important. So, same thing for filing a lawsuit against a company, you want someone who you can not only talk to and are comfortable with, but again is going to listen to you when it comes to the facts of the case and is not going to be condescending or act like they know better than you do just because they’re the attorney. Keep in mind, this is your case. You’re the one who is lived through the experiences. You’re the expert on your facts and the attorney is the expert on the law. So when you’re talking to an attorney, if you don’t feel like all of your issues are being heard, addressed and considered, it would probably be a good idea to move on.

Attorneys Fees and Costs

The costs of hiring a lawyer and bringing a case against a business can assume many different forms. In some cases, the law firm will establish a fee arrangement in which you will pay the attorney hourly. The general rate for attorneys are between $250 and $500 an hour. An option if you wish to retain an attorney at a hourly rate is to pay them half upfront with the other half payable in six months or upon the completion of your case. The reason we suggest clients at this stage of their case to pay our firm half up front, is that unfortunately most clients do not have sufficient funds to pay the up front costs and it is not fair to expect our firm to absorb all of the costs of the case.
Lawyers sometimes charge 1/3 of your recovery, but that is only if the matter is resolved before filing a lawsuit. Once a suit is initiated, the rates can go up to 40-50%. Also, you should bear in mind that most lawyers do not include court filing fees, legal document services, and other administrative costs in their fee. For example, the annual cost to maintain a corporate entity can be anywhere from thousands of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars, depending upon the complexity of the business and the documents to be prepared.
Retainer Agreements are another form of payment for legal fees. Many lawyers will require you to sign a retainer agreement which obligates you to pay them monthly for work performed on the case. Your attorney should be prepared to itemize all work done and the time spent on your case. When you consult with a lawyer, it is your responsibility to explain the retainer agreement or any other form of payment you are signing.
The cost of hiring a lawyer will vary depending upon the type of situation in which you are involved.

Preparing for Your Lawsuit

When it comes down to litigating a contract dispute with a defendant corporation or otherwise suing or otherwise litigating against a company, it is critical that you begin preparing for your case well in advance of filing suit. Evidence and witnesses naturally become less useful with the passage of time. Here are a few ways that you can begin preparing for your case immediately before you have entirely committed to pursuing litigation:
For example, you probably want to take steps now to limit the risk of spoliation of evidence. That means, consider whether the personnel most familiar with the events are likely to delete emails or other documents that they still have on their hard drive, and if you believe there is a risk they might be deleted, take hard copies of those documents if you are able to do so without violating the law like trespassing. If you have access to your company’s email server , I would print off key email threads, or screenshot them and save them to a folder. I also recommend you provide to your immediate superior at work a written notice to preserve all documents and electronically stored information that might relate to the claims you could be bringing, in order to avoid spoliation of evidence by employees if they should accidentally delete those emails, in order to protect against claims you might eventually bring, and so on.
You would be surprised at how many cases are lost on grounds of spoliation simply because parties did not send out a notice to preserve all evidence. Some things are clear, but others might not be – even if this is a headache, you should jump through the hoop of sending a written notice to preserve all evidence to establish that you weren’t trying to destroy or alter evidence. I also recommend that you engage a lawyer to help you begin this preservation process.