When you hire a lawyer, you are entrusting them with an important chapter of your life. You expect them to perform with a high degree of competence, professionalism and responsiveness. And in most cases, they do.
However, sometimes that’s not the case. Formally claiming negligence by your attorney can be a messy, complicated and drawn out affair—one that is separate and in addition to the original legal issue you were already facing. Rather than run the risk of further complicating your legal issues, you will need to find the best legal malpractice lawyer you can to assist you in your new legal fight.
The basic definition of legal malpractice is when someone claims they have suffered damage due to their attorney’s negligence.
Some examples of legal malpractice include:
- Not performing adequate due diligence during the discovery phase of your case
- Being careless when collecting evidence and preparing legal briefs and motions
- Procrastination or missing deadlines in the filing of paperwork
- An attorney who protects their interests above those of their client
- Ethical conflicts that come up between the client and their attorney
- Failing to know or apply the law
- Failure to obtain a client’s consent
- Failure to follow a client’s instructions
- Work delegated to an improper employee or a contractor outside the firm
- Failure to anticipate or understand tax consequences
All of these instances must be couched against what is known as the “attorney judgment rule.” The application of this rule means that if your attorney acted in good faith but made judgmental errors or omissions with honest intentions, they cannot be held liable.
Zagrans Law Firm proudly serves Cleveland and the surrounding Ohio communities of Brooklyn, Lakewood, East Cleveland, Parma, Seven Hills, Rocky River and University Heights.