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Area of law

Litigation

Resolving disputes through the courts.

Find schools with programsAll areas of law

What this area covers

Litigators represent clients in lawsuits from the first pleading through discovery, motions, trial and appeal. Litigation is a skill set used across nearly every area of law.

Also called: Civil Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Complex Litigation.

Typical legal work

  • Drafting pleadings and motions
  • Taking discovery and depositions
  • Negotiating settlements and trying cases

Common subareas

Appellate PracticeArguing to higher courts that a decision should stand or change.Trial AdvocacyThe craft of presenting a case to a judge or jury.

Where lawyers work

  • Law firms of every size
  • Federal, state and local government
  • Legal aid and public-interest organizations
  • In-house legal departments

A setting is where you work; an area is what the work is about. The same area is practised in very different settings.

Schools with verified programs

A school is listed here only when its own website names a concentration, certificate, clinic, center or field placement in Litigation or one of its subareas. Schools are in alphabetical order. The list is not a ranking, and a school that is absent may still teach the subject.

72 schools · 6 concentrations and specializations · 17 certificates · 65 clinics · 16 centers and institutes · 3 externships and field placements

Filter these schools in the directory

Program types counted as evidence: clinics, certificates, concentrations and specializations, centers and institutes, externships and field placements. Joint degrees and advanced degrees are described under Degrees & program types.

Sources

These references informed what the area covers. The description above is PreLaw Advisor’s own and does not reproduce their text.

  1. 1.American Bar Association. Litigation Section (opens in a new tab) Retrieved Sep 2026.

Description reviewed Sep 2026. Each school program links to the page it was verified against.

Litigation — areas of law · PreLaw Advisor