What Are the Most Common Legal Malpractice Claims?
There are many ways in which a lawyer can commit malpractice, and some of them are more common than others. There are four main categories of mistakes that lawyers make which lead to the majority of legal malpractice claims that are filed in the United States. If you have a feeling that your attorney made a mistake in your case but you are not sure exactly where they went wrong, it is a good idea to learn about the types of actions which constitute legal malpractice so that you can see whether any of them fit the circumstances of your case.
Substantive errors account for about half of all legal malpractice claims in the United States. Some common substantive errors include failing to know the law, failing to apply the law to the facts of the case, and failure to know about deadlines and statutes of limitations. It is easy to see where mistakes of this nature can cause harm to clients. For example, if a case is not filed within the statute of limitations, then it cannot be filed at all and the client has missed their chance to address the matter.
Administrative errors are another common type of legal malpractice claim. Failing to file documents with the court is a leading cause of clerical error malpractice claims. Other types of clerical errors which can result in malpractice claims include work that was delegated to support staff or a junior attorney and not reviewed thoroughly before it was used, missed deadlines and other calendaring mistakes. The practice of law is a detail-oriented business. Lawyers and their support staff must organize their offices, their files, and their time effectively so that they can fulfill the promises of effective representation that they have made to their clients.
Errors in communicating with clients can turn into legal malpractice claims. The lawyer-client relationship is at the heart of every legal matter. When an attorney advises a client, they may describe various options that are available to the client, or they may suggest that a particular course of action is the most likely to produce the outcome that the client wants. Lawyers must be thorough when advising their clients, and take care to explain the likely consequences of each potential course of action. Also, the lawyer should follow the client’s instructions when it comes to what course of action to take, unless the client wants the lawyer to do something which is illegal or goes against the rules of professional conduct by which the lawyer is bound. One example of a client communication error that could result in a legal malpractice claim is if a lawyer accepts a settlement offer without first notifying the client of the offer and obtaining the client’s consent to accept it.
A fourth category of actions which result in legal malpractice claims is intentional wrongdoing. Fortunately, malpractice claims based upon things like fraud, libel, and slander are relatively uncommon. These types of claims account for just over ten percent of all legal malpractice claims, but when they do occur, they make for shocking news stories which shake the public’s faith in lawyers and the legal system. In that respect, they are damaging not only to the victims of the wrongdoing, but to the profession as a whole.
The skillful and dedicated legal malpractice attorneys at Greer Injury Lawyers, PLLC know how to pursue justice for those who have been the victims of legal malpractice. We will take the time to evaluate your case, and we will provide honest answers to all of your questions. Call our office today, at (888) 470-9143 to arrange for a consultation with one of our seasoned Tennessee legal malpractice attorneys. At Greer Injury Lawyers, PLLC, we are small enough to care, big enough to fight, and experienced enough to win.