Tag Archives: malpractice
Damages in Attorney Malpractice Actions (Part 1)
Many plaintiffs wonder what kind of damages are available in legal malpractice actions. While knowing the available damages won’t help plaintiffs determine how much they will (or might) recover in any given case, an awareness of the available forms of damages can help injured plaintiffs understand the scope of a potential recovery. While this… Read More »
Is a Lawyer’s Violation of Ethics Rules Always Malpractice?
The short answer to the question in the title is “No, an attorney’s violation of the California Rules of Professional Conduct (without more) is not always malpractice.” However, that’s not the end of the story. A lawyer’s violation of the rules of professional conduct may also constitute malpractice, if it involves a breach of a duty to… Read More »
How to Identify a Lawyer’s Breach of Duty to a Client
“Breach of a duty (owed to the plaintiff)” is a major element of a legal malpractice case, and like the other elements, the plaintiff bears the initial burden of proving breach of duty. BREACH OF DUTY IS NORMALLY A QUESTION OF FACT At trial, issues of law are normally decided by the judge, but… Read More »
Is Every Mistake a Lawyer Makes Malpractice?
Although some people may be surprised to hear it, the answer to the question above is: No. Not every mistake a lawyer makes will create malpractice liability. Mistakes happen, even to diligent people–and if an attorney gives mistaken advice, or makes an error in judgment, the lawyer has not necessarily committed malpractice. Analyzing whether a lawyer has… Read More »
The Attorney’s Liability for Misrepresentations and “Lies” (Part 1)
An old joke about attorneys asks, “How can you tell when a lawyer is lying?” The answer: His lips are moving. Obviously, lawyers don’t always lie. In fact, most of the time they tell the truth–the code of ethics and the professional requirements of holding a Bar license require both honesty and zealous representation of a… Read More »
Evaluating the Existence of an Attorney-Client Relationship
When evaluating a lawyer’s potential liability for professional misconduct (or malpractice) one of the threshold questions involves the existence of an attorney-client relationship. While attorneys may occasionally incur malpractice liability in cases where no attorney-client relationship existed, these are exceptions. As a rule, the attorney owes a duty of professional competence to clients, and almost all… Read More »
The Attorney’s Duty to Communicate With Clients (Part 2)
Earlier this week, we took a look at the basic obligations attorneys face with regard to client communications in the context of legal representation. Today, we’ll continue that discussion with an in-depth look at what attorneys are required to disclose with regard to the attorney-client relationship. ATTORNEYS MUST INFORM CLIENTS OF ISSUES OR DEVELOPMENTS IMPACTING… Read More »
The Attorney’s Duty to Communicate With Clients (Part 1)
Attorneys Have a Basic Legal Duty to Communicate With Clients Attorneys have a legal duty to maintain “professionally adequate” communication with clients. Proper communication is a critical element of the competent practice of law, and failure to properly communicate with clients may represent a breach of the attorney’s legal duty. Attorneys also have a legal duty… Read More »
The Differing Standards For Attorney Discipline & Malpractice
California Lawyers who fail to represent clients competently, and in accordance with applicable ethical standards, may be liable both to the client and to the California Bar Association. While civil liability to the client generally results in awards of damages (monetary awards granted by a court), the Bar Association’s disciplinary committee has a range… Read More »
Tolling the Statute of Limitations on Legal Malpractice Claims
As we discussed last week, the “statute of limitations” is a law that provides a limitation period for the commencement of malpractice claims. Claims must be filed within the period stated in the law (or fall within an exception) or the plaintiff cannot recover. For this reason, it’s critical that plaintiffs must not delay in… Read More »
