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Malpractice doesn’t just apply to doctors and dentists. It may also apply to lawyers. The term “legal malpractice” is a rather broad catch-all phrase that includes a variety of civil liability claims filed against attorneys who breached their duty to clients. There are also rare exceptions when an attorney may...

When lawyers make mistakes, this is called legal malpractice. It’s their duty to serve their clients ethically. Lawyers owe their clients a certain level expertise, a duty, to provide ethical, professional and competent legal services. From time to time, a lawyer may breach these duties and harm a client. Actions...

Last Thursday, a San Antonio jury returned a $72.6 million dollar verdict against Akin, Gump in a case where the plaintiff alleged that the patent lawyers failed to properly obtain patents on a device that the plaintiff invented. The verdict is another in the trend of larger verdicts against large law firms.  The...

It's not an uncommon fact pattern.  A corporate officer or employee will be testifying at a deposition or in a courtroom with the corporation's lawyer present.  The officer/employee says something bad that subjects themeselves to liability.  And when things go south, the officer/employee ends up suing the corporation's attorney for not...

Lawsuits about Ponzi schemes seem to be all the rage now.  At the end of last year, mega-firm Holland & Knight formed a Madoff Advisory Group.  The head of the group stated that: Holland & Knight is already assisting a number of companies, financial institutions, charitable foundations and individuals who...

In 2005, Tae Bo creator Billy Blanks won a $30 million legal malpractice verdict against Seyfarth Shaw based on allegations that the firm failed to file court papers on time in the right venue.  Earlier this week, a California appellate court found that the damage instructions were improper and sent...

In the last two weeks, Texas appellate courts have decided two legal malpractice cases on behalf of the attorneys because the client couldn't prove that he would have prevailed in the underlying case. Last Friday, in Hackett v. Littlepage & Booth, 2009 Tex. App. Lexis 1166 (Tex. App. - Austin, Feb....

I often have the misfortune of having to explain to prospective clients that even though their previous attorneys had acted in a way that is almost unthinkable, I can't help them because they weren't hurt enough.  I have to explain that legal malpractice cases are expensive and that the damages have to...

Part of my standard spiel to lawyers on "how to avoid malpractice claims" is for the lawyer to take steps to avoid becoming the unintended lawyer.  Any time there are multiple potential parties who think they may rely on the attorney's advice, the attorney needs to clarify in writing who the attorney does and does not represent....

A trial last week was a great example of a common malpractice scenario: simple neglect of the file. A jury rendered a $338,000.00 verdict against a lawyer that simply refused to prosecute a worker's compensation claim. According to an article discussing the case, the lawyer was hired, but the case...