There are some cases in which legal malpractice is intentional. If your lawyer takes intentional steps that work against your best interests, that’s a significant problem. For instance, perhaps they make legal decisions that further their own financial gain, even though those decisions technically hurt your case.
But intent is not a requirement. In most cases, legal malpractice is just an issue of negligence. The lawyer was supposed to uphold a certain standard of care and provide a certain caliber of services, and they failed to do so. Their negligence has significantly impacted the case, the outcome and their client. That may not have been what they intended, but negligent errors or omissions could still constitute malpractice.
What would a mistake look like?
There are many examples of negligent mistakes that could lead to harm for a client.
For instance, perhaps the client only has a certain amount of time to file an appeal. They informed their lawyer of their intent to do so. But the lawyer misplaces the paperwork and accidentally misses the deadline. The client loses their chance to appeal, and they blame their lawyer for failing to file the paperwork on their behalf.
Another example could be if someone asks their lawyer about the statute of limitations to file their case initially. The lawyer tells them that the statute of limitations is three years. This causes the client to delay as they gather details and evidence. But it turns out that the statute of limitations for that specific type of case is actually only one year. The lawyer’s error now means that the client may not be able to start their case at all, when they would’ve had plenty of time to do so if they’d been given the correct statute of limitations initially.
These are just two examples of potential negligence. If your case has been harmed due to mistakes made by your legal team, it may be time to begin looking into all of the options at your disposal.