International Commercial Litigation Attorney

Commercial Litigation

A good commercial litigator will be able to play two roles--advocate
and advisor. Many businesspeople fail to see how important it is that
the attorney they hire be able to play both of these roles. Some
commercial litigators who are very good in the courtroom are poor
advisors outside the courtroom and thus fail to suggest alternatives to
costly court battles. Mr. Hernandez has tried cases in the court and has
business experience before becoming a lawyer. (References are
available). When you speak with Mr. Hernandez you will understand
why business people and regular citizens hire him, the initial
consultation is free.

If a businessperson feels offended by a lawsuit and sees an attorney
while still feeling indignant, he or she may wind up hiring an attorney
who feels as indignant over the case as he or she does. Too often that
attorney is simply arguing the case to the client and telling the client
everything he or she wants to hear. The problem with this is that what
a client needs to hear is not always what he or she wants to hear.

Today many commercial disputes can be time-consuming and costly.
No party should initiate one or continue to fight one solely because he
or she is offended or indignant at the other party's actions. Often, there
is too much money at stake to allow emotions to rule over rational
judgment. It is the responsibility of a good commercial litigator to tell
his or her client the benefits and risks of taking a case to trial, and to
act as an advisor in the office. The advocacy role should be saved for
trial or for settlement negotiations. This distinction between the two
roles of good commercial litigators may seem obvious, but many
decision makers do not really understand it. An attorney who never
sees any way out of a problem other than fighting in court is an
attorney who learned the advocacy role but failed to learn the advisor
role. If that attorney is going to represent a client, it is important that
the client also have other counsel who can recognize the risks and
occasionally suggest alternate courses of action.

When to Sue
Eventually it may be necessary to sue another party. Litigation has
become a routine cost of doing business for many companies in this
country. Of course, litigation is not painless, even for the party that
eventually wins the lawsuit. It is a skill to know when to turn to the
courts to settle commercial disputes.

Seek Legal Advice Early
The best way to use a lawyer is to involve him or her in the early
stages of a deal. Often, if legal advice is sought early enough in putting
together a deal, it will be unnecessary later to ask lawyers to "fix"
something that has gone wrong. If legal advice has not been sought
early, or a deal looks like it will sour despite earlier legal advice, it is
wise to seek legal counsel again. Most importantly, our legal system is
full of statutes of limitation that require a plaintiff to bring a lawsuit
within a set time or lose forever the right to do so. Different statutes of
limitation have different time periods and different events can start the
clock ticking. Even if a dispute later is settled peacefully to the
satisfaction of all sides, it may be necessary to file a commercial
lawsuit early in order to preserve the right to go to court if other forms
of dispute resolution are not effective.

What to Do when Sued
At first glance it may seem that getting sued is worlds away from suing
someone else, thus it may come as a surprise that responding to a
lawsuit is similar to initiating one. If you have been sued contact Mr.
Hernandez immediately, time is of the essence, generally you have
about 20 days to respond to a lawsuit before defaulting. Mr.
Hernandez can determine how you can be protected from a lawsuit.