When you have a legal issue, you should get an attorney to protect your rights and shield you from severe penalties. However, it can be devastating when the person you ran to causes you to go through what you were evading in the first place.
Unfortunately, legal malpractice happens, and you may experience it. Different factors can contribute to it, including poor communication.
Here are three aspects in which poor communication can lead to legal malpractice.
Deadlines
A lawyer should communicate with a client about deadlines. These include when they need to file a claim, submit documents, show up in court and so on. If an attorney fails to provide this information, or at least sooner, a client may miss out on a crucial deadline or will not have enough time to gather solid evidence, which can significantly affect their case.
Decisions
Making crucial decisions without informing a client may constitute legal malpractice. For example, an attorney accepting a settlement or taking a case to trial. Even though it may be the best decision, it will be best to communicate with a client. And some decisions made in such a way can be poor, especially when a lawyer hasn’t spent adequate time with a client to know what they want.
Updates
An advocate should tell a client how a case is going. With technology, clients no longer have to go to a lawyer’s office now and then. Thus, an attorney needs to ensure their client has the relevant updates they may need to act accordingly, be it through calls, messages or emails.
Legal malpractice can stem from poor communication. If you believe this is your case, get the right experience and knowledge to protect your future.