Three Reasons You May Be Able To Sue Your Attorney For Malpractice In A Civil Case

Legal malpractice is less looked at by people than other forms of malpractice, but it remains a big deal. Court cases and their determinations have legal and real-life ramifications. Case loses can happen, but if they are solely at the feet of the attorney, you do have legal recourse. Though you may not know as much as an attorney does about the legal system, there are clues that your attorney did not do the job that you paid them for. Here are three situations where you may be able to sue your attorney for malpractice. 

Failing to file paperwork on time

Most courts and court cases will have deadlines for documents, discovery, and any other sort of legal standing that you desire to file. If your attorney does not file paperwork on time, you may find that your case is compromised. If there have been several instances of late paperwork or paperwork that was not filed and it hindered your case, this can be legal malpractice. Find the correspondence between yourself and your attorney about filing any paperwork that was missed in order to prove your case. 

They missed court dates

Missing court dates is of the most overt cases of legal malpractice. Attorneys must show up to represent their client, even if the client is unable to show that day. If your attorney did not show up to a court case, you may be able to show that this contributed to your legal case ending poorly. If your attorney was routinely absent in other ways, such as not being able to make meetings with you and not being available for meetings with the other attorney or judge, this is also a legal malpractice problem. 

Not maintaining attorney-client privilege

Attorneys have strict legal rules for attorney-client privilege. Clients are able to freely discuss any of their legal problems with their attorney and not have the discussion leave the room. If there is any sort of attorney-client privilege betrayal, such as the attorney discussing private matters without your permission or bring anything up in court that you have not authorized, this is considered legal malpractice. If your attorney has breached attorney-client privilege, you will be able to sue them for this breach in confidence. You will need to certify that you spoke with your attorney about the issue and prove that they told another individual who was not authorized in order to proceed with this claim. 

Contact a legal malpractice attorney for more help.

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