Whether you’re interested in becoming a legal administrative assistant, law clerk, paralegal, immigration consultant, or even police officer, you can boost your employability with a foundational understanding of Canadian law.
Canada’s justice system consists mainly of criminal law and civil law. While both deal with seeking out truth and protecting the innocent, these forms of law are distinctly different in practice. While criminal cases often end in severe penal punishments, civil litigations end in reparations, compensations, or peaceable agreements between parties involved.
That’s because civil litigation involves legal disputes between people who simply want payment or compensation for specific wrongs done against them.
“For example, if individuals or companies disagree over the terms of an agreement, or who owns land or buildings, or whether a person was wrongfully dismissed from their employment, they may file a lawsuit asking the courts to decide who is right,” states the Canadian Superior Court Judges Association. “This is civil litigation.”
If you’re pursuing a legal career, read on to learn 3 facts about civil litigation.
1. There is a Wide Range of Civil Litigation Legal Careers to Pursue in Victoria
Civil litigators generally specialize in one or two specific practice areas. When you work in a Canadian law office, your employer may practice any of the following specialties:
- Employment and labor law
- Real estate law
- Environmental law
- Landlord and tenant rights
- Personal injury claims
- Medical malpractice
- Intellectual property suits
These are just the most common types of civil litigation practice, so it’s possible that your legal training will earn you a position in an area unrelated to any of the topics above! And Victoria’s thriving business and real estate scene means an increasing amount of legal positions are opening in our city by the day. For this reason, pursuing education in Canada’s legal system ensures your choice of employment in a secure, respectable, Canadian career.
Legal training can help you find work in a BC courthouse within a year.
2. Civil Litigation has a Lifespan Longer Than its Time in the Courtroom
Most of your exposure to the civil litigation world may come from television and news reporting, wherein proceedings are summarized and emphasis is placed on court trials and sentencing. But as you’ll learn throughout your own legal career, a lot happens between a charge and a trial.
The lifespan of a lawsuit generally ranges from months to years. Its procedural stages can include investigation, pleadings and discovery, and then (if the case can’t be settled out of court) trial, settlement, and sometimes appeal. Throughout each step, legal professionals like police officers, administrative assistants, paralegals, and law clerks are needed to do help civil law lawyers, or ‘litigators,’ find solutions that best serve their clients and justice at large.
3. Some Essential Civil Litigation Legal Career Skills Aren’t in the Books
You’ll learn about legal research techniques, office software, and legal procedures in your legal training, but you’ll also develop the various ‘soft skills’ needed by modern legal professionals—the kind not found in a textbook.
For example, your own analytical and logical reasoning abilities can help you develop strong civil ethics. Your communication skills can help you connect with employers and clients on a trusting, personal level. If you are a mother or an adult learner, you may even have experience developing these types of qualities already.
No matter what your personal strengths or background may be, the right training can turn your own nature and passion for justice into a lasting legal career both you and your family can be proud of.
Are you interested in launching your career by enrolling in legal college in Victoria?
Visit AOLC for more information or to speak with an advisor.