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Law vocabulary · Lawsuits & Procedure

Litigation

Meaning in law, with examples

/ˌlɪtɪˈɡeɪʃn/nounCore term

In law, litigation means: The process of taking a dispute to court and pursuing it there through claims, hearings and judgments, as opposed to settling it privately.

In Turkish: dava süreci, yargılama, dava yoluyla uyuşmazlık çözümü

How it is used

Law firms have 'litigation departments', and lawyers who do this work are 'litigators'. People say a matter is 'in litigation', that 'litigation is pending', or that a client wants to 'avoid litigation' because it is slow and expensive. Arbitration is usually treated as a separate category.

Example sentences

  1. Litigation could take three years, so the client is open to a settlement.

  2. She moved from the corporate team to the litigation department last year.

Common collocations

  • commercial litigation
  • pending litigation
  • avoid litigation
  • litigation department
  • costs of litigation
  • lawsuitA claim that one person or company brings against another in a civil court, usually asking for money or for an order to stop something.
  • disputeA serious disagreement between people or organisations about their rights, money or obligations, which may end up in court or arbitration if it is not resolved.
  • proceedingsThe formal steps of a legal case, from the moment it is started until it is finished; the legal process as a whole.
  • arbitrationA private way of resolving a dispute in which the parties agree to let one or more independent arbitrators decide it, usually with a final and binding result.
  • legal costsThe money spent on a case, including lawyers' fees, court fees and expert fees; courts often decide which party must pay them.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Lawsuits & Procedure

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not legal advice.