How Long Does a Civil Lawsuit Take?
Understanding the Normal Timeline of a Civil Suit in MassachusettsHow long your lawsuit takes will depend on a variety of things, including opportunities for settlement during the process.
Generally, if a suit goes all the way through trial, you should expect it to take about two years. Right now, courts are still dealing with a backlog from COVID, so this time period is longer for pending cases. It remains to be seen how quickly courts will be able to get back to a more normal schedule. Within that time, the first two or three months are when the complaint is filed and answered, either with an answer or a motion to dismiss. After that is a period of discovery, lasting usually 9-12 months. How long it takes to get to trial after discovery ends depends on whether the defendant files a motion for summary judgment, and when the court has availability for your trial. You should know, also, that over 97% of civil cases end in settlement sometime before trial. You should talk to your attorney about your settlement expectations, and finding opportunities in the schedule to try to resolve the matter with the other side. Learn more here about what to expect as a plaintiff in a civil suit in Massachusetts. |
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Meet Our Trial Attorneys
Emily Smith-Lee is the owner and founder of slnlaw. She is a 1996 graduate of Boston College Law School. She was previously a partner at the Boston office of a large international firm, where she worked for thirteen years, with a focus on complex business litigation. In 2009, she started the firm that became slnlaw. She has been recognized as Massachusetts Superlawyer each year since 2013, and in 2018 earned recognition as one of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly's Lawyers of the Year for a precedent-setting victory at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. She has written a book on employment law: Rules of the Road, What You Need to Know About Employment Laws in Massachusetts, and helped thousands of clients with business and employment disputes. Emily has handled cases at every level of the state system, in the federal trial court, and before the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
Elijah Bresley: Eli is a 2014 graduate of Seton Hall Law school, and has worked with slnlaw since 2020. He previously worked for a boutique employment law firm outside of Boston, and then for the Labor and Employment department of a large Boston firm. He also spent a year clerking for the judges of the Superior Court in Hartford, Connecticut. Eli has successfully defended numerous employers in the MCAD, and litigated other business and employment disputes throughout the state court system and in the federal trial court.
Sharleen Tinnin: Sharleen is a 2010 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, and has been with slnlaw since 2023. Prior to joining slnlaw, she worked with King, Tilden, McEttrick & Brink, P.C. on complex civil litigation matters. She previously worked for the United States Department of Justice, and received an "Excellence in Justice" award in 2017. Sharleen has litigated both plaintiff and defendant cases in the state court system, MCAD, and the federal trial court.
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