Most attorneys work hard to maintain a positive professional reputation and to avoid making mistakes that may be considered legal malpractice. The concept of legal malpractice is misunderstood by many. It is basically when your attorney does not deliver the legal services he or she promised and you suffer harm.
Some Things You Must Prove
Attorneys are responsible to perform the required steps and reach the best results for their clients. When the attorney is stalking you with difficulties rather than helping you move forward, you need to find an experienced advocate that knows his way around the law to help you claim your legal rights through a legal malpractice lawsuit. But mistakes without evidence are not enough to prove legal malpractice occurred. You must first prove a few things with the help of an experienced California legal malpractice attorney:
1 The attorney you hired didn’t provide the expected professional standard of care.
2 If the case was handled the right way, it would have yielded better results.
Legal malpractice can happen during litigation or transactional work. For instance, a common example of malpractice during litigation is when the attorney fails to file the claim before the deadline. Transactional malpractice refers more to the documents required to succeed in your case.
An attorney can commit legal malpractice in a number of ways:
1 When the attorney fails to apply the proper law.
2 Your attorney failed to communicate effectively with you and didn’t respond to your messages and phone calls in a timely manner.
3 The required documents were not filed.
4 The settlement was reached without your approval.
5 The funds were not used for what it was intended.
6 The attorney failed to disclose relevant information.
Gather Evidence
In order to prepare for a legal malpractice lawsuit, you will need to gather as much evidence as possible. Remember you are suing someone who knows the law so you need to be fully armed with the best legal resources to win this battle. Some important documents you need to have are the contract and fee agreement and any bills you have received. Your case file belongs to you and your attorney can’t keep it. Once you have this file, you should gather additional evidence, including key witnesses of the harm you suffered.
Simple Steps To Keep In Mind
1 Fire your attorney.
2 Find an experienced attorney to represent you.
3 After your first consultation decide if the case is worth pursuing.
4 Determine if you can afford it.
5 Save all important documents.
6 Prove the malpractice occurred and expose lies.
Schedule Your Free Consultation
If you want to consider using your attorney for malpractice, meeting with a talented legal malpractice attorney in California is the first and most important step to take. Call us today and schedule a free consultation to determine whether or not you have a case and discuss your options.