How to Sue Your Attorney for Malpractice
If you wish to sue your attorney over malpractice, you must prove that their breach of duty caused legal, monetary or other negative consequences for you. It is not enough to prove that the negligence of the attorney was a problem and you must prove that there is a direct connection between the breach and the unfavorable outcome.
Legal malpractice does not include matters of strategy. If you lose a lawsuit because your lawyer failed to file the lawsuit in time this could be considered negligence.
Misuse of Funds
One of the most popular kinds of legal malpractice is a lawyer’s misuse of funds. Attorneys are bound by a fiduciary obligation to their clients and must act with integrity and fidelity when handling money or other property that the client has trusted them with.
If a client pays a retainer to their attorney, the attorney is required to place that money into a separate escrow account specifically for the purpose of that case only. If the attorney mixes the account with personal funds or makes use of it for any other purpose that is a clear breach of fiduciary duty, and could constitute legal negligence.
Imagine, for instance that a client hires an attorney to represent him in a lawsuit filed against a driver whose vehicle struck them when they crossed the street. The client can prove that the driver was negligent and is able to show that the accident caused their injuries. The lawyer however fails to comply with the law and is not able to file the case on time. The lawsuit is dismissed, and the victim suffers a financial loss because of the lawyer’s mistake.
A statute of limitations limits the time you have to bring a lawsuit against a lawyer for malpractice. This can be difficult to determine if an injury or loss was due to the negligence of the lawyer. A licensed New York attorney with experience in the field of malpractice law can explain the statute of limitations to you and assist you to determine if your situation is a good fit for a legal malpractice lawsuit.
Disobedience to the Rules of Professional Conduct
Legal malpractice occurs when an attorney does not adhere to generally accepted professional standards and inflicts harm on the client. It has the same four elements of most torts, which include an attorney-client relationship, a duty, a breach, and proximate cause.
Some examples of malpractice law firm are a lawyer mixing trust and personal account funds, failing in time to file a lawsuit within the timeframe of the statute of limitations and taking on cases where they are not competent, not performing an investigation into conflicts, and not keeping up-to-date with court proceedings or other developments in the law that may affect the case. Lawyers are accountable to communicate with their clients in a reasonable manner. This isn’t just limited to email or fax and includes also returning phone calls promptly.
Attorneys are also able to commit fraud. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as lying to the client or anyone else involved in the case. In this scenario it is crucial to have all the facts at your possession to determine if the lawyer was being untruthful. It’s also a violation of the attorney-client contract when an attorney is assigned an issue that is outside of their expertise and does not inform the client about this or recommend seeking separate counsel.
Inability to provide advice
If a client decides to hire an attorney, it means they’ve reached the point where their legal situation is beyond their ability or experience and they are no longer able to resolve it on their own. It is the attorney’s responsibility to inform clients about the merits of a case along with the costs and risks involved and their rights. When an attorney fails to perform this, they could be liable for malpractice.
Many legal malpractice claims stem from of poor communication between lawyers and their clients. For example attorneys may not respond to phone calls or fail to notify their clients of a decision made on their behalf. An attorney might not also communicate vital details regarding a case, or fail to reveal any problems with an transaction.
A client can sue an attorney if they have suffered financial losses as a result of the negligence of the lawyer. The losses should be documented. This requires evidence, such as email and client files, or other correspondence between an attorney and a client, and also bills. In cases of fraud or theft It may be required to have an expert witness examine the case.
Failure to Follow the Law
Attorneys must abide by the law and understand what it means in specific situations. They could be found guilty of misconduct in the event that they fail to follow. Examples include mixing client funds with their own, or using settlement proceeds to pay personal expenses, or failing to exercise basic due diligence.
Another type of legal malpractice includes failure to file a lawsuit within the timeframe of limitations, missing deadlines for filing court documents or not adhering to the Rules of Professional Conduct. Attorneys must also disclose any conflicts of interest. They must inform clients of any financial or personal interest that could influence their judgement when representing them.
Attorneys are also required to follow the instructions of their clients. Attorneys are required to follow the directions of clients unless it is evident that the actions would not be beneficial.
To win a malpractice lawsuit, the plaintiff has to demonstrate that the lawyer did not fulfill his duty of care. This can be difficult, since it requires proof that the defendant’s actions or inaction resulted in damages. It’s also not enough to show that the result of the attorney’s negligence was bad; for a malpractice claim to succeed, it needs to be demonstrated that there’s an excellent chance that the plaintiff could have won their case in the event that the defendant had followed the usual procedure.