How much time does a lawyer actually spend in the court room?
More specifically, how most time does a genuine estate/construction counsel or a family counsel outlay in a justice room? Thanks to everybody who answers!
White collar stuff, many may never see a courtroom. A lot of legal stuff can be submitted prior to seeing a judge,and the courtroom only comes into necessity when something has to be read into public record. Usually the final pronouncement.
Lawyer as a profession is vast! Even within the fields you specify, some lawyers specialize yet in document construction in an effort to prevent future litigation. Others specializes in litigation. Yet some only do appeals cases, so it depends.
Also, most cases do not make it to trial and get settled out or dismissed before that. If that’s the case, the lawyer doesn’t get much time in court (trial) unless you count appearing in the judge’s chamber as time in court.
Real estate or contract lawyer are not considered trial attorneys and spend hardly no time in court. A family lawyer spends almost no time in court. A divorce lawyer has mostly settlement negotiations, a child custody lawyer will meet with an arbitrator or social services more then the judge. A criminal attorney spends the most time in court.
It really depends on what they are doing. A family lawyer is going to spend more time in the court room than a real estate/construction lawyer. Real estate/construction lawyers do most of their work outside the court room, dealing with contracts, etc. It is mostly, if not all, office work. A family lawyer is going to be going to court quite often on divorces, child custody matters, emergency protective orders, etc. unless agreements can be reached. Basically, any kind of lawyer that deals with litigation is going to be in the court room on a regular basis. For example, a criminal defense lawyer or prosecutor will spend most of their time in the court room.
Seeing as he’s getting paid for it, as much as he can. Sure, you get people complaining that they never see their families but would they really rather be living in a box on the side of the road?
If the real estate/construction lawyer is involved solely in litigation claims, they will not spend much time in court. They will conduct their business mostly through pleadings, motions, and depositions. The only time they would actually go to court is for a hearing on a contentious motion, for pretrial confernece, and, if it comes to it, trial.
As for a family lawyer, they would likely spend more time in court. Their case load is likely be much more, so they will spend time in court almost every day for custody hearings, support or adjustment hearings, and any other number of hearings that must be before a judge.
It really depends. Some lawyers prefer to do only transactional work and thus rarely set foot in the court room. Some lawyers do ONLY trials, and thus spend your regular 40 hours per week in court, plus more hours on out of court preparation. Other litigators do some combination of office work and court appearances. As an associate in a litigation firm, I spend anywhere between 0 and 30 hours per week in court, out of a total of 50 hours per week of work. It really varies.
What most lay people don’t realize is just how much of a litigator’s work is done out of the court room. A summary judgment motion in a complex case may be argued in front of the judge for a mere hour — but takes a month (!) of absolutely grueling out-of-court work to brief. (For the uninitiated: "briefing" a motion means preparing the papers for the judge to read.) A garden-variety personal injury trial may take only 4 days of court time, but it is preceded by several weeks of preparation; and while testimony and arguments are heard between about 10 am and 4 pm, the lawyers who are on trial actually work on the case round the clock. A deposition does not usually take place in a court room, but it is a lengthy and intensive process (and also book-ended by lengthy preparation and subsequent analysis).
The concept itself of "spending time in court" is also quite iffy, for not all court apperances are created equal. If a lawyer is on trial, every minute of his court time represents actual work. By contrast, when a lawyer goes on a court conference, most of his time is, regrettably, spent waiting on a long line of cases to be called to see the judge. Three hours in the office is spent much more productively than three hours at a court conference. In any event, as I previously said, most work that litigators do takes place out of the court room. Accordingly, court time versus out-of-court time is a distinction which, for the most part, only lay people make; it signifies a lot less to lawyers.
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Comments: 18 comments
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CGIV76
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Not very long. But if it’s only 10 minutes, they will still charge you for the hour, plus travel time, air, water, thoughts, ………etc.
krista.anderson57
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
hours!!!
yeahiknow83
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
not as much as your gonna pay them
don corleone
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
less than 20% of their day
Michael F
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Not too long..
harry k
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
It all depends on what "type" of lawyer. Litigators spend time in courtrooms. Most lawyers never set foot in courtrooms.
infobod2nd
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
not as much time as money would allow
..telly..addict..
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
depends – but normally hours ! you could be in a court room for up to 7 hours ! – shockin i no lol
Mark L
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
none, they send an intern.
Napster964
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Let’s see… 4 in the court room, 2 in the Cafe, 18 in bed with a Hooker….
Not that long, really. He does more ‘Important stuff’ for the rest of it.
photoguy_ryan
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
White collar stuff, many may never see a courtroom. A lot of legal stuff can be submitted prior to seeing a judge,and the courtroom only comes into necessity when something has to be read into public record. Usually the final pronouncement.
Andy
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Lawyer as a profession is vast! Even within the fields you specify, some lawyers specialize yet in document construction in an effort to prevent future litigation. Others specializes in litigation. Yet some only do appeals cases, so it depends.
Also, most cases do not make it to trial and get settled out or dismissed before that. If that’s the case, the lawyer doesn’t get much time in court (trial) unless you count appearing in the judge’s chamber as time in court.
withluv7
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Real estate or contract lawyer are not considered trial attorneys and spend hardly no time in court. A family lawyer spends almost no time in court. A divorce lawyer has mostly settlement negotiations, a child custody lawyer will meet with an arbitrator or social services more then the judge. A criminal attorney spends the most time in court.
Heather Mac
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
It really depends on what they are doing. A family lawyer is going to spend more time in the court room than a real estate/construction lawyer. Real estate/construction lawyers do most of their work outside the court room, dealing with contracts, etc. It is mostly, if not all, office work. A family lawyer is going to be going to court quite often on divorces, child custody matters, emergency protective orders, etc. unless agreements can be reached. Basically, any kind of lawyer that deals with litigation is going to be in the court room on a regular basis. For example, a criminal defense lawyer or prosecutor will spend most of their time in the court room.
DeathToFalseMetal
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Seeing as he’s getting paid for it, as much as he can. Sure, you get people complaining that they never see their families but would they really rather be living in a box on the side of the road?
kingjaffa
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
depend of ur case .it depend as well at what stage is ur case for example ,direction ……..
Reepicheep
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
If the real estate/construction lawyer is involved solely in litigation claims, they will not spend much time in court. They will conduct their business mostly through pleadings, motions, and depositions. The only time they would actually go to court is for a hearing on a contentious motion, for pretrial confernece, and, if it comes to it, trial.
As for a family lawyer, they would likely spend more time in court. Their case load is likely be much more, so they will spend time in court almost every day for custody hearings, support or adjustment hearings, and any other number of hearings that must be before a judge.
RŠµdisca
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
It really depends. Some lawyers prefer to do only transactional work and thus rarely set foot in the court room. Some lawyers do ONLY trials, and thus spend your regular 40 hours per week in court, plus more hours on out of court preparation. Other litigators do some combination of office work and court appearances. As an associate in a litigation firm, I spend anywhere between 0 and 30 hours per week in court, out of a total of 50 hours per week of work. It really varies.
What most lay people don’t realize is just how much of a litigator’s work is done out of the court room. A summary judgment motion in a complex case may be argued in front of the judge for a mere hour — but takes a month (!) of absolutely grueling out-of-court work to brief. (For the uninitiated: "briefing" a motion means preparing the papers for the judge to read.) A garden-variety personal injury trial may take only 4 days of court time, but it is preceded by several weeks of preparation; and while testimony and arguments are heard between about 10 am and 4 pm, the lawyers who are on trial actually work on the case round the clock. A deposition does not usually take place in a court room, but it is a lengthy and intensive process (and also book-ended by lengthy preparation and subsequent analysis).
The concept itself of "spending time in court" is also quite iffy, for not all court apperances are created equal. If a lawyer is on trial, every minute of his court time represents actual work. By contrast, when a lawyer goes on a court conference, most of his time is, regrettably, spent waiting on a long line of cases to be called to see the judge. Three hours in the office is spent much more productively than three hours at a court conference. In any event, as I previously said, most work that litigators do takes place out of the court room. Accordingly, court time versus out-of-court time is a distinction which, for the most part, only lay people make; it signifies a lot less to lawyers.
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