What Are the Most Common Causes of Legal Malpractice?

When you hire an attorney, you expect that they will work with your best interests in mind. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and rather, your attorney’s negligence will cause you to lose your case or otherwise receive an unfavorable outcome. This can be frustrating and disappointing, among other negative emotions, as you likely put in a significant amount of time and effort in selecting an attorney for your case. Follow along to find out the most common causes of legal malpractice and how a proficient New Jersey legal malpractice attorney at The Law Offices of Mark S. Guralnick can help you fight back against your negligent attorney.

What are actions commonly associated with legal malpractice?

An action that is commonly associated with legal malpractice is when your attorney neglects to keep your best interests in mind when handling your case. More specifically, this can be seen if your attorney purposely acts against your wishes by settling your claim without your explicit permission to do so. Acting against your wishes and claiming that you are being “impractical” or otherwise failing to advise you of the best course of action is simply unacceptable.

Another action that can be considered legal malpractice is when your attorney misplaces the crucial evidence, files, and other important documents that you carefully collected for your case.

What are other common causes of legal malpractice?

Typically, if your attorney mishandles your case in any way, this can lead to a valid legal malpractice claim. Specific examples of such mishandling include the following:

• They fail to interview crucial witnesses.
• They fail to retain expert witnesses or proper expert witnesses.
• They fail to apply the law to the facts of the case.
• They fail to meet the pre-trial deadlines.
• They fail to use pre-trial discovery opportunities.
• They fail to provide timely notice of tort claims under federal or New Jersey law.
• They fail to respond to the adversary’s discovery requests.
• They fail to serve a timely Affidavit or Certificate of Merits.
• They fail to address child support liens or other liens.
• They fail to account for the tax consequences of your settlement.
• They fail to accurately calculate damages or payoff amounts.
• They fail to advise you about insurance considerations.

So, for your legal malpractice claim, you will have to collect sufficient evidence that points to your attorney making one or more of the aforementioned preventable errors, which ultimately harmed the outcome of your lawsuit. For assistance with gathering this proof, we recommend that you retain the services of one of our talented attorneys at our legal malpractice law firm located in Cherry Hill as soon as you possibly can.

Contact our experienced New Jersey firm

If you require the services of a dedicated legal malpractice attorney in New Jersey, please contact The Law Offices of Mark S. Guralnick today for a free consultation.

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