If you live in California and have suffered financially because your attorney did not provide you with competent legal representation, you may have grounds to file a lawsuit against that lawyer. A survey of the top 10 providers of malpractice insurance for lawyers shows that the number of malpractice claims is on the rise along with the cost of defending the claims.
Legal malpractice claims are on the rise
Some of the settlements of professional malpractice claims have been staggering. The large insurers have reported settlements approaching $250 million for the most egregious of cases. Nearly all the insurers reported that they had made a payment of $150 million or more. The most common type of malpractice claim resulted from an attorney having a conflict of interest. Law firms have not done the work that they need to in order to avoid a conflict. This impacts cases where there are business transactions most prevalently.
Malpractice can result in compensation
Even if your claim is not as large as some of the ones mentioned above, you may still be entitled to compensation if your lawyer has not lived up to his or her professional obligations. Malpractice can even happen in smaller personal law procedures, such as divorce and even estate planning. Your lawyer owes you certain obligations the second that he or she becomes your attorney and can be made to pay if you suffer damages from his or her failure to live up to them.
If you have been harmed by your lawyer’s breach of his or her obligations to you, the best thing to do is to hire a legal malpractice attorney to pursue a civil claim. While the last thing you may want to do is hire another lawyer after you have felt victimized by your last one, this is what you need to do to fight for your legal rights. Your new attorney will help you file your malpractice claim.
