Malpractice does not just occur in the medical field. Any profession that requires licensing and specialized education can see cases of significant malpractice. The term malpractice refers to a professional deviating from current best practices and failing to meet current professional standards.
Legal malpractice occurs when an attorney violates current professional regulations in a manner that harms their clients. People negatively affected by a lawyer’s negligence may sometimes have grounds for a legal malpractice lawsuit. They can hold the attorney accountable for making major mistakes and failing to conform to best professional practices.
What types of negligence may be sufficient reason to pursue legal malpractice lawsuits against attorneys?
Blown statutes of limitation
A statute of limitations is a law imposing a timeline for legal proceedings. Most types of personal injury litigation are subject to statutes of limitations. The people affected by the misconduct or errors of others often only have a limited window of opportunity in which to take legal action. Information about statutes of limitations is readily available. If attorneys do not advise their clients of when the statute expires and take action before that occurs, their failure is so egregious that it likely constitutes malpractice.
Lack of statutory knowledge
Many attorneys focus their practice on one specific area of law. They do this so that they can develop as much knowledge as possible regarding the laws that apply to the cases of their clients. When attorneys practice multiple different areas of law or branch out into new areas of specialization, they may be unaware of more obscure statutes that could affect their clients’ cases. If another lawyer with a basic level of knowledge in a certain area of law can readily recognize a gap in an attorney’s statutory knowledge, the situation may meet the standard necessary for a claim of legal malpractice.
Ignorance of key judicial precedents
The law requires the interpretation of the courts. Judges often enter rulings that clarify certain details about the law. As such, attorneys need to be familiar with not just statutes enacted by lawmakers but also judicial precedent related to rulings on prior cases. Precedent can affect everything from affirmative defenses and sentencing in a criminal case to compensation awards and liability allegations in a personal injury lawsuit. When a lawyer is unfamiliar with precedents that other attorneys practicing a certain area of law know, they could be at risk of committing malpractice while advocating for their clients.
Clients who experience poor legal outcomes and provable losses because of an attorney’s negligence may have grounds for legal malpractice lawsuits. Reviewing the circumstances surrounding a recent legal issue with a team knowledgeable about matters of legal malpractice can help people evaluate whether or not they can take legal action to hold an attorney accountable for professional negligence.
