What is Legal Malpractice?
Legal malpractice occurs when your attorney commits some sort of mistake or negligence that leads to you losing any sort of remedy or compensation that you could otherwise have received. An attorney in St. Louis could breach their duty of care in several different ways, but a few of the most common include:
- Failing to file your case in the applicable timeframe
- Not filing the right kind of motions with the applicable statutes of limitations
- Committing some sort of forgery (which can happen during real estate closings, for instance)
- Making a serious error while preparing court documents or representing you in court
- Misrepresenting your case
- Failing to return phone calls , provide adequate information about the case, etc.
Most legal malpractice claims are grounded in common law negligence, and they hinge on proving that the attorney did not meet the required duty of care according to Missouri law. The required duty of care is determined by the subjective and objective standards based on the type of case. In this situation, the subjective standard measures a good St. Louis attorney’s conduct in terms of what any other good St. Louis attorney would have done under the same circumstances. The objective standard looks at the actions the attorney actually took and whether it meets the standard of being competent.
When Should I Consult a Legal Malpractice Attorney?
You should consider the services of a legal malpractice attorney in St. Louis if your case was mishandled by your lawyer. There are many instances where your damages could have been recovered had you retained the services of a qualified and competent legal representation. Here are some signs of malfeasance: Lost Case – Your legal matter is lost because of the negligence of your attorney. Ineffective Pleadings – Malpractice could be present if your pleadings are poorly prepared and your opponent seizes the opportunity. Mishandled Security Deposits – If the other party fails to return the security deposits because the attorney failed to pay it over, you have been a victim of legal malpractice. Poor Investigation – Failed cases are often because critical evidence was never uncovered or the witnesses were not effectively located or interviewed. Poor Testimonial Evidence – The failure of your attorney to interview witnesses and properly prepare them for trial can result in lost cases. Contested Facts – Where those who were supposed to be on your side failed to produce necessary documents for your case, and the other party takes advantage of the situation, you could have suffered from legal malpractice. Failure to Follow Instructions – If your counsel chose to ignore your instructions and you suffer damages as a result, you might have a legal malpractice case.
Selecting a Legal Malpractice Lawyer in St. Louis
When it comes to finding a competent legal malpractice attorney in St. Louis, you have to make sure that you are careful about the professional that you hire. What exactly should you be looking for? Here are a few suggestions that will help you as you narrow down your options.
It goes without saying that the first thing you have to do is make sure that the attorney has the necessary qualifications to properly represent you in a legal malpractice case. When you are sitting down with them for an initial consultation, ask them about their law degree, their legal education, how long they have been practicing, and other details about their background that might tell you more about the experience they have.
Speaking of experience, you need an attorney who has been in practice for many years. Someone who has helped many clients file legal malpractice suits against their attorneys is one you can feel confident in. While it’s true that experience alone does not guarantee results, it’s an important first step.
While it is not 100 percent necessary, having a good reputation can go a long way toward providing you with peace of mind that you are finding the right lawyer. You can look at their website and see what kind of information it provides about the reputation of the firm.
Make sure you check out some legal malpractice testimonials to learn what other clients have said about your potential attorney. This is the best way to verify the claims they make about themselves on their websites. You can also schedule a consultation and ask them for references from previous clients that they have helped represented in legal malpractice suits.
What to Do if You Think You have Legal Malpractice
If you suspect that your former attorney has committed legal malpractice, here are some steps you can take before proceeding with a legal malpractice case:
- Gather all paperwork concerning the case or transaction you have a dispute over. Keep it in an envelope and do not destroy any of the documents in question.
- Consider consulting another lawyer in Saint Louis concerning your legal malpractice claim. Discuss the events that occurred in detail and provide the lawyer with all the documents you’ve gathered. Make sure to tell the lawyer why you feel your former attorney committed legal malpractice.
- Carefully screen to find the best legal malpractice attorney for your case. There are certainly more attorneys to choose from and some are far better than others.
- If you move forward with a new lawyer and your case is accepted for to represent you , the lawyer you choose will go through the facts and ask you many questions. Your new attorney will then conduct an intensive review of the entire file including talking to the former attorney about the prior case and proceeding on your behalf.
Potential Results of a Legal Malpractice Case
The potential outcomes of a legal malpractice claim are financial compensation and the opportunity to settle your case early on. Any legal malpractice claim will be based on two factors: causation and damages. You have to prove that your attorney’s negligence was the cause of your damages. Even if this is done, many times these cases settle. The reason being, the costs of litigation can be an inordinate waste of money, which leads to settlement.
Some estimates show that the average civil case costs over $35,000. Of course, if an attorney does not practice long enough to have acquired this capital, it does not make sense for them to spend the money and a case may just settle with some reduced compensation. Alternatively, the case could go to the jury and they could award you substantially in excess of that number, at least at the trial level. This is one of the reasons these cases are filed so often in a large multiplaintiff lawsuit. Often times, the attorneys do not have the money to put forward at trial, or simply have so many cases that it would be impossible to put forward at trial in all of them. This is also the reason most legal malpractice cases do not go to trial.
Again, legal malpractice has a very low rate of success. Legal malpractice cases are very difficult because of the judicial reluctance to judge a prior attorney for bad action. This is an extension of the judicial philosophy that we must not make a mistake in allowing lawsuits to go forward that would just get in the way of the justice system. To put it differently, if a lawyer who handles a criminal defense case defendant is sued for legal malpractice and the case is successful, the defendant will either win the case anyway or the state will retry the case, which hampers justice. This sort of thing can occur in any situation, and the law does not see this as a good policy, so we are generally unable to sue attorneys for bad action. In fact, in Missouri, there are only four possible instances that would create a successful legal malpractice case. These instances can create wrongful death, catastrophic injury, fraud, or something known as the "duty of care". Most of the time, an outlier is overlooked under the category of "duty of care" because it is not easy for a non-lawyer to understand that there is a potential cause of action there.
Common Questions and Answers about Legal Malpractice in St. Louis
Clients often have many questions about legal malpractice cases. These questions frequently include whether or not a lawyer can be sued for legal malpractice, how much time they will have to file a legal malpractice lawsuit, and how much it will cost. Here’s a look at some of the most frequently asked questions on legal malpractice from clients of St. Louis legal malpractice attorney Mike Campbell:
Q: Can I sue my lawyer for legal malpractice?
A: All attorneys are held to particular standards of competence and care. If your attorney was negligent in providing you with an awful result, you may have a legal malpractice lawsuit on your hands. Even if the case ended the way you wanted it to, if your attorney was negligent, and more competent counsel could have done a better job , you may have a legal malpractice claim.
Q: How long do I have to file a legal malpractice lawsuit?
A: If you file your lawsuit more than five years after the actions complained of the court will tell you that you cannot go forward with your lawsuit. The defendant attorney can also agree to a longer period.
Q: How much does it cost to sue your lawyer for legal malpractice?
A: Most legal malpractice attorneys work on contingency, so you won’t have to pay anything up front to get them to take your case. You’re falling under the same contingency fee arrangement that your attorney used when you hired your attorney. It will end up being the same amount of money in the end, but there will be no hourly billing in a legal malpractice lawsuit.
