Legal Malpractice

In order to maintain a cause of action for legal malpractice, a plaintiff must establish that a person acting as their attorney provided negligent representation and such negligent representation caused them injury. It is not enough to merely show that a lawyer failed to act in the most efficient and prudent manner possible. Moreover, showing negligence is not enough by itself. Serving Chicago residents and others, our legal malpractice lawyers are familiar with the nuances of these claims.

In addition to demonstrating that an attorney failed to act within reasonable standards of their profession, a plaintiff must demonstrate that they would have prevailed in their cause of action if it were not for their attorney’s negligence.

In some cases, such as theft or fraud, proving a claim and establishing damages may be somewhat straightforward. However, most cases involving allegations of legal malpractice are more complex. For example, imagine a case in which a plaintiff is awarded $20,000 by a jury when the plaintiff should have received a much larger award. Was the low verdict the result of legal negligence, jury error, prejudicial jury instructions by the court or another factor?

If you are an individual or an attorney involved in a legal malpractice lawsuit, the first thing to do is contact an experienced Chicago legal malpractice lawyer. Our attorneys represent individual plaintiffs as well as attorneys in legal malpractice litigation and disputes over attorneys’ fees. Our broad-based experience as counsel for plaintiffs and defendants enables us to quickly analyze the strengths and weaknesses of a particular claim and anticipate the strategy of opposing counsel.

Based in the Chicago area, our legal malpractice attorneys have prosecuted or defended a wide variety of different types of legal malpractice claims. For instance, we represented a business purchaser of a pet food wholesale operation whose attorney failed to perform a due diligence required under standard purchase manuals. This resulted in the purchaser buying the wholesaler even though the manufacturer had already decided to terminate the distributorship. The purchaser thus paid over a million dollars for a worthless distributorship. We have also represented attorneys accused of malpractice and have succeeded in achieving dismissal of some of those actions. In one instance the attorney had simply filed a temporary appearance for the client and the fee agreement and related correspondence made clear that the attorney would only be representing the client until a replacement attorney entered an appearance. The client attempted to take advantage of the fact that the attorney had never withdrawn his appearance. The court however agreed that the contract limiting the scope of the representation alleviated the attorney of malpractice liability. Our wide ranging experience in different types of business litigation matters give us a unique perspective in defending our prosecuting legal malpractice claims. We are available for a free consultation to advise you on the viability of your malpractice claim or to assist in developing a defense strategy.

To contact a Chicago legal malpractice attorney at our firm about legal malpractice or a fee dispute, please contact our law office in Elmhurst or Chicago, Illinois. For assistance, call 630-333-0333 or contact us by e-mail.