W
hen you put your trust in an attorney to help you navigate the legal system or to defend you against prosecution, you expect that attorney will do his job correctly and well. You expect that an attorney who has been vetted by the State, having been through law school and passed the State’s Bar, to be fully capable of honest conduct, fair, professional and competent work for you. In most cases, that’s exactly what you get. However, when Legal Malpractice rears its ugly head, it’s the client who suffers. It’s you who lose: the case, the lawsuit, possibly your freedom.
Sometimes, bad lawyers will take advantage of a client’s vulnerability. When James Holson, of Los Angeles, California, was going through a divorce, his shady attorney advised him to sell a piece of property so that it wouldn’t be included in the divorce settlement. Then the lawyer turned around and purchased that property for half its value. Clearly, this was a case of Legal Malpractice because not only did he advise his client to do something shady, but also he acted improperly and unethically on James’ behalf. What did James do when he realized he’d been become a victim of Legal Malpractice? He found a good Legal Malpractice Attorney in Los Angeles to bring a lawsuit against his former attorney. He recovered the legal fees, the full price of the property he’d sold and had the satisfaction of seeing his former lawyer disbarred.
Actionable Legal Malpractice happens when a lawyer’s conduct or ongoing conduct doesn’t meet the professional standard of competence and winds up doing provable damage to his/her client. In other words, if a client can prove, in the case of a judgment against him, that if his/her lawyer had acted in good faith, been better prepared, argued more effectively or had not intentionally damaged his client’s case in the eyes of the law, then Legal Malpractice has occurred.
Malpractice also occurs in the medical field, with physicians, hospitals, dentists, as well as with accountants, engineers, architects and even real estate brokers. In each of these fields, different standards are required to prove Malpractice. In medicine, results of Medical Malpractice are often obvious and physical. A doctor’s mistake can have life or death consequences for his or her patient.
Legal Malpractice is harder to prove. It requires the client who is claiming Legal Malpractice to prove that if the lawyer had acted differently the case would have had a different outcome in the client’s favor. In other words, the client must prove that there was some evidence or time-line or standard of defense that would have changed the outcome of the verdict that was reached. This is not only difficult for civilian (non-lawyer)- clients to prove, it’s often difficult to even know when it’s happened. If you suspect that such Legal Malpractice has occurred, your best course is to contact a good Legal Malpractice attorney. This may seem counterintuitive. You may feel burned by the legal system. But an honest, professional Legal Malpractice attorney can sort out what, if anything, went wrong with your case and can mount a Legal Malpractice action against your former attorney.
First and foremost, doing this can result in a second chance. If Legal Malpractice by a former Attorney can be proved, you may have a chance to retry or re-file your case. Secondly, there may be monetary recourse for you. You can be compensated for the pain and suffering as well as for the financial backlash of your lost case. However, be aware that legal malpractice does not have a history of huge monetary judgments. But an expert legal malpractice attorney can often right a wrong that has been perpetrated by a dishonest or negligent lawyer against you.
What constitutes Legal Malpractice?
• Attorneys must deal in all aspects of the attorney-client relationship, honestly, fairly, with integrity and fidelity and must possess the legal knowledge ordinarily possessed by others of his profession.
• Negligent errors are the most common issues that fall under legal malpractice. Lawyers who give faulty advice, prepare poorly for trial, fail to file court documents on time, or those who make errors when looking into real estate titles are often guilty of malpractice. However, these cases are difficult to prove if the lawyer’s error was grounded in an unsettled or debatable point of law.
• Faulty handling of the attorney-client professional relationship. Lawyers who don’t communicate properly with their client about how difficult it might be to prove a case they are bringing can be accused of legal malpractice.
• Lawyers who overcharge or gouge clients for fees. This includes tort claims filed against a lawyer that claim emotional distress by the client.
• An attorney who holds onto funds due his client and/or fails to pay his client promptly.
• Any dealings between lawyer and client that are not fair and professional. The lawyer must not allow any undue influence to damage the client’s case.
Legal Malpractice attorneys specialize in cases that concern attorney misconduct and if you feel that you have been the victim of an unscrupulous or dishonest attorney, or if you have lost a case due to that attorney’s negligence or misconduct, it is in your best interest to immediately contact an attorney with experience and expertise in Legal Malpractice law.
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