Common examples of legal malpractice
Legal malpractice occurs when an attorney manages a case inappropriately due to negligence on his or her part or with the intent to harm and cause damages to his or her client. In most cases, in order to pursue a legal malpractice lawsuit, you will have to prove the following elements:
- An attorney-client relationship exists between you and your attorney
- A breach of duty to provide skillful and competent representation occurred (i.e. negligence)
- The attorney’s breach of duty caused injury or harm
- The injury or harm resulted in a financial loss
Not every mistake that is made by an attorney in handling a case can be considered to be legal malpractice; in other words, just because he or she failed to choose the best strategic course of action doesn’t mean a breach of duty was committed. You must be able to prove that, if your attorney hadn’t been negligent or had an intent to harm, there would have been a successful outcome to your case, and you wouldn’t have suffered a financial loss.
Some common examples of legal malpractice include:
- Failure to know the law and apply it correctly to a client’s particular situation
- Failure to file documents or to meet filing or service deadlines
- Failure to obtain consent
- Failure to follow or ignoring instructions
- Fraud
- Conflict of interest
Did your attorney do this?
In addition to the most common examples of legal malpractice, there are other, more egregious kinds of legal malpractice that could not only result in a civil legal malpractice lawsuit, but could also lead to criminal prosecution of the attorney as well as disciplinary sanctions, fines, disbarment from his or her state bar association, and loss of law license.
Examples include:
- Theft
- Abuse of a client’s trust account
- Commingling of an attorney’s accounts with those belonging to his or her clients
- Fraud
- Abuse of process
When you engage the services of a trusted legal professional, you’re putting a lot of faith in that person to fight for your rights and to get you the compensation that you deserve. Most attorneys never intentionally engage in legal malpractice. When they agree to take on a case for a client, they have every intention of doing so honestly and responsibly.
Unfortunately, an honest mistake can still have very serious consequences as can a purposeful abuse of power. When this happens, you need to seek the services of an attorney that specializes in handling cases involving legal malpractice.
Proving your case
Proving your case for legal malpractice can be challenging. In addition to proving that the four elements occurred, it also has to be very clear that your case would have been successful if your attorney had abided by the Rules of Professional Conduct.
If you feel that your attorney committed legal malpractice while representing you, you’ll need an experienced attorney for legal malpractice to evaluate your case to determine whether or not you have grounds for a lawsuit.
With more than thirty years of experience, San Diego attorney, Scott S. Harris, handles legal malpractice cases. Contact us to schedule your free initial consultation.