We have spoken with more than 500,000 people in the last 23 plus years. We hear a lot of unique situations for people who are looking for Illinois lawyers. We also hear a lot of similar cases. In that regard, many people say similar things to each other. One of them is this:

I don’t know what type of lawyer I need, but I think I need a civil attorney.

Where people are often misinformed is in knowing what a civil attorney is. It’s a very generic term for the most part as pretty much any case that ends up in court is considered civil litigation.

In other words, if you are bringing a medical malpractice lawsuit against a doctor for a failure to diagnose cancer, that is a civil lawsuit. If you are filing a lawsuit against your neighbor who hit your car, that is a civil lawsuit. If you are suing a life insurance company for not paying out the death benefit on a policy of a loved one who passed, that is also a civil lawsuit.

Each of these cases would require a different type of attorney. So when looking for a lawyer, it’s best to find out what type of lawyer typically handles your type of case. For example, if suing a doctor, you are looking for a medical malpractice lawyer.

Someone who says they are a civil attorney implies they can handle most cases that they are presented with. That’s not the type of lawyer we advise you to get. We recommend that when possible that you look for a law firm that focuses on the type of case you want to bring and has a track record of success to point to.

Now of course there are some cases that are unique. There isn’t a lawyer who makes a living by filing lawsuits over a general dispute between siblings over rent paid on a property they jointly own. But there are attorneys whose practice focus is general civil litigation. There are others who may focus on items relatively close to that such as real estate litigation.

And in other scenarios, if you are trying to recover a dog that your ex is keeping from you, you might not think there are attorneys experienced with that. But what that case involves is recovering property. The legal term for that is replevin and many lawyers do that type of work.

Now you can’t be expected to know what to call your unique legal situation. That’s what we are for. You can call us any time at 312-346-5320 to learn what type of lawyer you need. And if we know someone we think can help, we’ll refer you to them.