HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Legal malpractice is the term for
negligence Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...
, breach of fiduciary duty, or
breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other par ...
by a lawyer during the provision of legal services that causes harm to a client.


Examples

A common example of legal malpractice involves the lawyer's missing a deadline for filing a paper with the court or serving a paper on another party, where that error is fatal to the client's case or causes the client to spend more money to resolve the case than would otherwise have been required. For example, a lawyer may commit malpractice by: * After being retained to file a claim or lawsuit, failing to file a case before the statute of limitations expires. * Failing to respond to potentially dispositive motions filed by the opposing party. * Failing to timely file a notice of appeal. Malpractice may also occur as the result of a breach of the contract pursuant to which the client is represented by the attorney.


United States

Under U.S. law, in order to rise to an actionable level of negligence (an actual breach of a legal duty of care), the injured party must show that the attorney's acts were not merely the result of poor strategy, but that they were the result of errors that no reasonably prudent attorney would make. While the elements of a cause of action for legal malpractice may vary by state, under typical state law the four elements of legal malpractice are: # An attorney-client relationship, # Negligence by the attorney, # A loss or injury to the client caused by the negligence, and # Financial loss or injury to the client. To satisfy the third element, legal malpractice requires proof of what would have happened had the attorney not been negligent; that is, "but for" the attorney's negligence ( "but for" causation). If the same result would have occurred without negligence by the attorney, no
cause of action A cause of action or right of action, in law, is a set of facts sufficient to justify suing to obtain money or property, or to justify the enforcement of a legal right against another party. The term also refers to the legal theory upon which a p ...
will be permitted. "But for" or actual causation can be difficult to prove. If the malpractice alleged occurred in litigation, the legal malpractice case may result in a "trial-within-a-trial" which delves into the facts of the case for which the client originally retained the attorney.


Proof of innocence

In at least 11 jurisdictions, a person convicted of a crime who then sues his defense attorney must first prove that he was factually ''innocent'' (in other words, he must first petition for and obtain
exoneration Exoneration occurs when the conviction for a crime is reversed, either through demonstration of innocence, a flaw in the conviction, or otherwise. Attempts to exonerate convicts are particularly controversial in death penalty cases, especially wh ...
from the court that originally convicted him before filing suit) and that he was convicted only because of his attorney's negligence.
Wiley v. County of San Diego
', 19 Cal. 4th 532, 966 P.2d 983, 79 Cal. Rptr. 2d 672 (1998). In this case, the Supreme Court of California noted that 10 states have already squarely ruled that factual innocence is an essential element of a criminal convict's legal malpractice case against his attorney, and proceeded to join them. The Court also noted that the exceptions are Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.
A plaintiff who has lost a civil case must prove that the legal malpractice complained of caused the case to be lost, so that the plaintiff can then recover from the negligent attorney the damages that would have been owed by the underlying defendant. Some jurisdictions have rejected or limited application of the actual innocence element of the exoneration rule, meaning that a criminal defendant may pursue a legal malpractice claim against his counsel without first having to prove actual innocence or obtain post-conviction relief. The rule may be held inapplicable where the question of guilt is irrelevant to the alleged malpractice. For example, in Iowa, a defendant who receives inadequate representation at sentencing was allowed to pursue a malpractice claim without also challenging the underlying conviction. In Kansas, a legal malpractice action was allowed when brought by defendant who was not claiming innocence but was instead asserting that an error by criminal defense counsel cost him the opportunity for a more favorable plea bargain. Iowa and Kansas have held that proof of innocence is not a separate element of a legal malpractice claim against a criminal defense lawyer, but is instead a factor that a jury may consider when applying the standard elements of legal malpractice. The Idaho Supreme Court found that to require a defendant to show actual innocence in order to proceed with a legal malpractice claim against a criminal defense lawyer would conflict with the presumption of innocence a defendant is to enjoy at trial, disregards harm that may result to a client other than being convicted, and potentially allow a defense lawyer to shirk duties to a client the lawyer knows to be guilty.


See also

* Fiduciary management * Ineffective assistance of counsel * Legal abuse *
Malpractice In the law of torts, malpractice, also known as professional negligence, is an "instance of negligence or incompetence on the part of a professional".Malpractice definition, Professionals who may become the subject of malpractice actions inc ...
* Professional responsibility


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legal Malpractice Legal ethics Legal error Tort law Abuse of the legal system