Legal malpractice can take many different forms. Maybe there is a conflict of interest, where your lawyer may not always be acting in your best interests, but may make certain decisions that would benefit the other side. Maybe the lawyer made crucial errors that jeopardized your chances in the case, and you believe they were negligent and did not provide the expected level of legal services that you were promised when you hired them.
But what about something like a delay? Everyone knows that legal cases can take a significant amount of time. Some cases take months or even years. If your lawyer delays your case, could that constitute legal malpractice?
The statute of limitations
In some cases, yes, delays could be a form of legal malpractice. It depends on whether the delay is the lawyer’s fault and whether it actually harms your case in a fundamental way.
For instance, say that the case you are trying to file has a statute of limitations of just one year. If your lawyer delays too long, you may miss that statute of limitations. There could also be other filing deadlines that have to be met. A significant and unnecessary delay that is caused by your own legal team could make it impossible for you to file your case, allowing you to demonstrate that it caused significant harm to your position. You would have won the case otherwise, but now will never have the chance.
If you believe you have experienced legal malpractice, it can certainly be frustrating, and you may be interested in all of your options moving forward. It can help to work with an experienced legal team that has handled these types of cases many times before.