Tuesday, January 4, 2011

All About Legal Malpractice

Inside a courtroom, there is the judge, the jury, and the lawyers. The judge makes sure that the law is interpreted the right way, the jury gets to decide if the accused is guilty or not, and the lawyers are there to speak for their respective parties. They may belong to either the prosecution or the defense.


Legal malpractice in lawyers stems from unsatisfied clients. They feel that they were not properly represented in the court. Clients suing their lawyers for legal malpractice are uncommon, but it happens.


Not all mistakes by lawyers are grounds for legal malpractice. The mistake should be made because the lawyer did not use prudence, diligence, and his skill in preparing the case. He is negligent in his duties as a lawyer, therefore resulting in the loss of the case. Usually the loss is something tangible like money and property.


There is some difficulty in proving a legal malpractice case.

The information exchanged under the client and attorney confidentiality law can be nullified. Therefore things discussed by the plaintiff and his former attorney (defendant) under this rule could be used by the accused in proving that he is not guilty of legal malpractice.

Under the "Attorney Judgment Rule", a lawyer cannot be held responsible for errors in judgment if the judgment was made in good faith. This means a lawyer is not responsible for errors committed which he thought at the time was the correct decision. This rule protects lawyers who acted with diligence and prudence but was honestly mistaken.


Sometimes it could be difficult in locating a lawyer that would handle a legal malpractice case. But there are now lawyers in every state willing to take on such responsibilities.

If you are having difficulty finding the right lawyer, try the lawyer referral service offered by your state.