Can an Attorney Commit Malpractice?
When you go to the doctor you are trusting that the care you receive will be appropriate to protect your health and wellbeing. But if the doctor acts in a negligent way and violates their responsibility to provide you with a reasonable duty of care and their decisions or treatment harm you, you may be able to file a medical malpractice claim against them. Similarly, when you seek the counsel of a legal professional, you are also likely not going to question the guidance and support the attorney provides you. But, in some cases, an attorney can be malfeasant in the services you receive.
Medical malpractice can result in major negative health implications and even death for a patient. The repercussions of medical malpractice are significant. But, so are those of legal malpractice. If a lawyer is not serving you properly depending on your situation and why you are using an attorney, the negative impact on your life can be considerable. Like medical malpractice lawsuits, the state of Florida also allows people to take legal action against careless lawyers that commit deliberate acts of wrongdoing to their clients.
If you believe that the legal services you received from your attorney were remiss, the Jacksonville legal malpractice attorneys at Sheftall Law can discuss your situation with you and inform you of your options to secure justice.
How Can a Lawyer Commit Malpractice?
Putting your faith in an attorney is not unlike trusting your doctor. The specialized training and knowledge that an attorney or doctor has is something that you heavily rely on because it is not the area of expertise that you have.
Professional licensed attorneys are supposed to have a comprehensive understanding of the area of law that they practice. They should stay up-to-date on laws and changes in the law while also being well-versed in legal practices and proceedings. They should know how to manage the claims and cases they were taught to handle and they should be proactive in their duties to properly and fully support their clients.
Yet, like any profession, there are some lawyers that are very good at what they do, some that are just acceptable at their craft, and those that are not just terrible at their profession but downright negligent. Lawyers that are not providing legal counsel equal to what any other similar professional would do in the same situation, or are behaving in an unethical way, put their clients at a disadvantage when it comes to getting a favorable outcome from their case.
Working with an attorney for any type of legal pursuit is not a guarantee that you will win your case and get the desired outcome. But, the idea is that when you work with an attorney you improve your chances of this happening much more so than if you were to work without legal counsel. Also, an attorney helps inform you of your rights and is expected to protect those rights under the law. This notion that attorneys provide a great benefit to people engaged in legal battles is rooted in truth. Statistically, when a person works with has a qualified and licensed attorney, their chances for securing the desired conclusion for their case are greatly improved.
So, while working with an attorney does increase your probability of success with your claim or another legal case no attorney can make a promise that they will win your case for a fact. If a lawyer tells you that they will win your case for you without exception, this is a red flag that you should think twice about when it comes to their honesty and integrity. But, because there are no total assurances, just because you do not get exactly what you wanted from your case or if you lose it, that does not necessarily mean that your legal representation was negligent.
This is why if you believe that there were shortcomings or failures by an attorney who represented you, you can bring your situation to the Jacksonville injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Sheftall & Associates for review. If legal malpractice exists, the Jacksonville legal malpractice lawyers at Sheftall Law can help you respond with a lawsuit against the lawyer that harmed you and work to make things right again.
Examples of Legal Malpractice
There are an unlimited amount of ways that legal negligence can happen. Some of the most common situations include but are not limited to:
- Not observing and working within the statute of limitations.
- Fiduciary duty violations.
- Not investigating a claim properly.
- Making serious errors when litigating in court.
- Not filling out documentation correctly.
- Failure to respond to motions.
- Not providing sound legal counsel and advice that any other lawyer would in the same situation.
- Not using client funds appropriately.
To better illustrate an example of legal negligence, consider this example of a Florida car accident attorney representing a victim of a crash. The lawyer does not complete the filing of the claim by Florida’s statute of limitations which is four years from the date that the incident happened. Now, the victim is unable to secure compensation for their damages.
Another example could be your lawyer not doing their due diligence with regard to investigating your case and gathering all of the relevant and pertinent information that exists. In this way, that lawyer will be unable to effectively represent you because the majority of lawsuits rely on facts. As the saying goes, a lawsuit only consists of 10% law but 90% facts. Critical blunders and oversight that your lawyer makes can not only be a financial cost to you, but also a personal one.
Speak to a Jacksonville Legal Malpractice Lawyer Today
Legal malpractice is not benign. People who are on the receiving end of legal malpractice can suffer major harm. There are very real and serious ramifications that come with legal malpractice and this is why there are options for people to take action when they are victimized.
So, if you were the victim of legal malpractice in Florida, you can arm yourself with competent legal counsel at the Law Offices of Sheftall & Associates. You deserve to be recompensated for the losses you suffered. The attorneys at Law Offices of Sheftall & Associates take defending the client’s best interests personally. Call the Law Offices of Sheftall & Associates today to schedule a free consultation at 904-647-2296.