Q: What is the difference between contentious and non-contentious legal work?
A: Contentious legal work relates to legal matters that take place between two or more parties, such as a court hearing or a tribunal hearing to resolve a dispute.
Non-contentious legal work relates to transactions occuring between one or more parties, such as the sale or purchase of a house.
Very useful to know these terms when dealing with law firms – a lot of law graduates and paralegals do not understand the difference. Litigious and non-litigious similarly apply in a lot of cases.
Examples of contentious legal work: Crime, Family, Employment, Civil Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Shipping (Wet), Construction, Immigration, Personal Injury and Contentious Probate.
Examples of non-contentious legal work: Conveyancing, Commercial Property, Corporate Finance, Corporate Commercial, Shipping (Dry), Aviation, Energy, Commercial Contracts, Wills & Probate.
Jonathan Fagan is MD of Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment. cv@ten-percent.co.uk. Visit our website for details of our various services – www.ten-percent.co.uk
