You may be upset that you did not get the results you hoped for in a legal case, and you may wish you had chosen a different legal representative.
All attorneys will lose some of the cases they take on. Yet, in some instances, you may be able to take legal action against your attorney to hold them to account for your loss.
You would need to show that your attorney was negligent
You also need to demonstrate how their negligence harmed you. If the attorney was negligent but still won you a conclusive victory, you are unlikely to have grounds to claim.
Here are some examples of what might count as legal malpractice:
- They failed to do the required research: A lack of preparation will severely affect the chance of securing a positive outcome. Being too busy to put in the work is not an excuse.
- They made basic (but significant) errors: Attorneys do not have to get everything right, but if you can show they made elementary errors that no attorney in their position should ever make, you may have a case.
Attorneys must adhere to the state’s code of conduct for their professional body. If they breached it in the process of their work with you, that too might give you a reason to claim legal malpractice, even if they won the case for you. For example, if you believe they swindled you out of money or went on television to discuss your case disclosing details that should have remained private.
If you wish to claim legal malpractice against your former attorney, you must first place your faith in a new legal team to assess if you have a valid case.