Attorney Malpractice
When you hire a lawyer, that lawyer is required to provide competent professional legal service. While lawyers in California and throughout the US are bound by endless ethical rules and standards, legal malpractice is common in today’s court system. The Law Firm of Catalano & Catalano knows how important it is to provide the most ethical, dedicated legal service to our clients, and we’re prepared to counsel you if you feel that you have been misrepresented by a lawyer.
If you have a complaint against a California lawyer, you have two options: file a disciplinary grievance with the California State Bar Association or file a legal malpractice lawsuit against your attorney in civil court. As the plaintiff in a legal malpractice case, your malpractice lawyer will have to prove that your attorney committed malpractice and that you would have been successful had the legal malpractice not occurred. Your attorney may be liable for your damages if he has been negligent or if she has committed breach of contract or breach of fiduciary duty. Examples of attorney malpractice include:
- Lawsuit settlement without permission
- Failure to settle or advice not to accept an attractive settlement in a lawsuit
- Missing court dates or deadlines
- Improper legal filing or documentation
- Failure to return phone calls or respond to written correspondence
- Failure to bring in additional expert counsel when necessary
- Misrepresentation of particular legal or geographic expertise
- Mishandling funds or recovered damages
A legal malpractice attorney must prove several factors in order to prevail in a malpractice lawsuit against another attorney. Your lawyer must be able to prove that some form of negligence or breach of contract occurred with your original counsel. The plaintiff in an attorney malpractice lawsuit must also prove that had malpractice not occurred, you would have been awarded damages in your initial lawsuit.
Legal malpractice cannot be claimed just because you did not receive the jury verdict you wanted. The experienced attorneys of The Law Firm of Catalano & Catalano will help determine if your lawyer has committed malpractice and will aggressively pursue recovery of all damages.