My Daughter Is Being Sued - What Kind of Lawyer Do I Need?

[Anonymous 1]

My daughter graduated from university 4 years ago and recently her freshman year roommate committed suicide. The parents are suing the university and my daughter is named in the suit. The university told us that my daughter should retain her own legal representation but I'm in a tiny town and don't know specifically what kind of lawyer (family law? criminal law?) I should get. Any ideas?

Also, my daughter was put into a situation by the university at the time that I thought I should sue but didn't. I regret that now. Should the attorney I retain be able to counter-sue?

[Slimshandy]

Get a defense lawyer that specializes in counter suits.

[Anonymous 1]

Get a defense lawyer that specializes in counter suits.

Criminal or civil? While this is a civil suit, there are criminal aspects that could be charged later. Should I get a civil lawyer now and then change to criminal later or go ahead a get a criminal lawyer now?

[Slimshandy]

Get a defense lawyer that specializes in counter suits.

Criminal or civil? While this is a civil suit, there are criminal aspects that could be charged later. Should I get a civil lawyer now and then change to criminal later or go ahead a get a criminal lawyer now?

A criminal lawyer can handle all the civil suits, a lot of them do both

[carterscutie85]

Why did they name her? Do they think she encouraged it?

[Anonymous 1]

Why did they name her? Do they think she encouraged it?

I don't think so. My daughter's roommate in college had a suicide attempt second week. My daughter found her and took her to the hospital and reported to campus police. As roommate's parents were out of the country, university handled it internally (bad move) and had my daughter sign roommate out of hospital and into her care. My daughter was 17 at the time and not legally able to sign.

[Quorra2.0]

She needs a litigator. Counter sue the parents for what?

[Anonymous 2]

She needs a litigator. Counter sue the parents for what?

Why would she need a litigator? This has nothing to do with business law.

[Anonymous 1]

She needs a litigator. Counter sue the parents for what?

I was thinking of suing the university not the parents. Counter suing was the wrong term. I believe that the parents have a good case against the university but not my daughter and just wondering if there was a way to join their case and extricate my daughter from the litigation.

[Quorra2.0]

She needs a litigator. Counter sue the parents for what?

Why would she need a litigator? This has nothing to do with business law.

A civil suit is civil litigation. A litigator is an attorney that specializes in litigation. Business law in general would be a corporate attorney. A business would use a corporate litigator for civil suits. Most law firms that specialize in corporate law, will have not only corporate attorneys but also corporate litigators and, depending on size of the firm and clientele, they may also have M&E attorneys, tax lawyers, and employment and labor lawyers. These are all corporate attorneys that specialize in a specific area of business law. A business will retain a law firm, not necessarily a specific attorney, and depending on the businesses need will either utilize a general corporate lawyer or one that specializes in their given need.