You may be asking yourself, is it possible to sue your lawyer? If so, you’re not the first person to ask this question. The short answer to this question is yes, it may be possible to sue a lawyer who is not doing an adequate job, just as you may be able to sue any professional for malpractice.
Naturally, you will likely need a second lawyer to represent you in a legal malpractice lawsuit against your first lawyer, as these cases present unique challenges.
What You Can Do if Your Attorney Does Not Respond to You
Even if your attorney is not responding quickly enough to you, it might not rise to the level of legal malpractice. If you suspect that your lawyer is not just ignoring you but also ignoring your case, consider dropping your lawyer and finding another one. If you take that approach with a personal injury lawyer, it’s possible that you can move forward with your case with an attorney who gives your case the attention it needs. In more extreme cases, however, your lawyer ignoring you will amount to legal malpractice.
Pursuing a Lawsuit for Legal Malpractice
To sue your lawyer for misconduct, you need to identify the misconduct. In almost all cases, a legal malpractice claim is a negligence claim (although sometimes the misconduct is intentional—embezzlement, for example).
Legal malpractice requires you to prove the elements of—duty, breach, causation, and damages. If you can prove each one of these elements by a preponderance of the evidence (more than 50% likelihood), you can win your claim.
Below is an explanation of the four elements of a legal malpractice claim.
Duty of Care
A lawyer’s duty of care arises once you establish an attorney-client relationship. Since lawyers are professionals, their duty of care is high. Courts expect lawyers to understand much more about the law than the average person and to provide competent representation. This duty varies according to circumstance, and you might need an expert witness to determine the exact details.
Breach of Duty
Breach of duty can occur when a lawyer:
- Does something they shouldn’t do (violates attorney-client privilege by revealing your confidential communication, for example), or
- Doesn’t do something they should do (file a complaint by the statute of limitations deadline, for example).
Either way, duty plus breach of duty furthers your case for legal malpractice.
Causation
Causation requires you to prove that your lawyer caused the harm you suffered. You must also prove that the harm you suffered was a foreseeable consequence of your lawyer’s conduct.
If your attorney violates attorney-client privilege, for example, that could hurt you even if the information can’t be used in court. The defense might respond by investigating more aggressively. If they find independent evidence, they can use it against you.
Damages
You must prove that you suffered damages. Unfortunately, this means you have to win two cases in one. You can only win your legal malpractice case by proving that you would have won your original case if your first lawyer had handled your case competently.
Can I Sue My Lawyer Even After Recovering Compensation?
Yes, it is possible to sue your attorney even after settlement. You might have grounds for a legal malpractice lawsuit, for example, if your lawyer intentionally withheld critical information to get you to agree to settle for less than you would have settled for. A lawyer might do this to dispose of your case so that they can move on to more lucrative cases.
The Statute of Limitations for Legal Malpractice
In Ohio, you have one year from the date that you discover (or should have discovered) the malpractice to file a lawsuit. If you fail to bring your claim before the statute of limitations runs, you may lose your ability to hold the at-fault attorney accountable.
Reporting Your Attorney to the Ohio State Bar
You can report the attorney to the Ohio State Bar Association. You can also seek to have an attorney disciplined who commits acts of misconduct, whether or not their actions harmed the client. In a serious case, an attorney could be disbarred or have their license to practice law suspended. Taking these actions can help prevent the lawyer from harming anyone else.
Get Legal Help if an Attorney Screwed Up Your Case
If you are dealing with an attorney who screwed up your case, contact another attorney to explain your rights and discuss your options. If you believe you may have a legal malpractice claim, you need to move quickly.
Schedule a free consultation to learn more about what your rights are and how you can begin to move forward if an attorney screwed up your case.
