What Constitutes Attorney Malpractice?

When you need legal representation, you want to be sure that you are hiring an attorney with your best interests in mind. But, when this doesn’t happen, or the attorney makes a mistake and doesn’t fix it, you may be able to sue the attorney for legal malpractice. As legal malpractice attorneys, we represent clients whose attorneys did not represent them correctly and caused further injury. 

The attorneys at Law Offices of Samer Habbas & Associates can help you sort out what your previous attorney did to harm you and devise a course of action. To set up an appointment, call 888-848-5084 today or contact us online.

What Is Legal Malpractice?

In California, legal malpractice occurs when you hire an attorney and, in representing you, make a mistake that brings you greater harm. This doesn’t mean that if the attorney made a judgment mistake, you could sue them. They may be able to be held liable if another average attorney under the same or similar circumstances would not have made the mistake. A common example of legal malpractice is missing the deadline for the statute of limitations on a case.

How Do You Prove Malpractice?

You will need to hire an attorney specializing in malpractice to prove legal malpractice. There are specific rules and steps that must be followed to ensure your case is litigated correctly. We must be able to prove all of the following elements by a preponderance of the evidence. A preponderance of the evidence means more likely than not. 

• An attorney-client relationship existed
• Negligence occurred throughout the scope of the representation
• The negligence caused an injury
• The injury caused the individual to be able to collect damages

While it may sound easy to prove each of these elements, depending on the facts of the case, each element could prove to be its own difficulty. Hiring an experienced legal malpractice attorney can make all the difference when it comes to succeeding on a legal malpractice case.

What Kinds Of Things Are Considered Malpractice?

Under various circumstances, certain actions or lack of action could constitute malpractice. A rule allows attorneys to make certain judgment calls in a case. If it could be seen and understood that another reasonable attorney would have made the same judgment call, then there is likely no malpractice.

On the other hand, if the attorney missed important deadlines in the case, misused client funds, committed fraud, had a conflict of interest, didn’t add the proper defendants, or failed to keep the client reasonably informed, they may have committed malpractice. Again, any of these things alone may not necessarily be malpractice in and of itself, but if you are experiencing these signs when working with your attorney, it may be malpractice.

How Long Will The Case Take?

We can’t predict how long the case will take. Depending on a multitude of factors, the case’s timeline could range from one year to two and a half years. Your specific case may need to include lots of discovery, where we take the time to find all of the necessary evidence, or maybe your case will be quicker because the evidence is easy to find. Without fully evaluating the case, we cannot give you an estimated timeline for your case.

We Are Here To Help You

If you hired an attorney and think you have been a victim of legal malpractice, we want to help you. Call to set up a consultation at 888-848-5084 today or contact us online.