Legal malpractice involves a claim against a lawyer regarding the fee charged or your compensatory damages caused by the lawyer beyond the amount of the fee paid. Claims for emotional damage or “pain and suffering” are usually not permitted. Sometimes, the case of which you are complaining is still ongoing and a new lawyer is needed to finish the matter, something which I can do in the appropriate circumstances. But, if the case is over, to make the lawyer liable you must prove the lawyer committed malpractice (not just an error in judgment) and that “but for” the acts of the attorney you would have been successful, or more successful in the case and that your damages were caused by the negligence of the attorney.

        There are circumstances where I agree to complete the case. Often, it is better to clean up the other attorney’s “mess” than it is to lose the case and then sue the attorney. My review of the matter with you may well lead me to the conclusion that new counsel will solve the problem. That new counsel does not have to be me, but I am available as part of that choice. Sometimes, the attorney is sued and the case handled by me at the same time. While your legal fee to me as part of a malpractice case is not recoverable, legal fees paid to me or others to “clean up the mess” may be permitted as part of the forseeable consequences of the attorney’s conduct.