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Atlanta Legal Malpractice Lawyers

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Lawyers must act in their client’s best interests. If they don’t, and their actions harm their clients, they’ve committed malpractice. If your lawyer committed malpractice, you need to hire an Atlanta legal malpractice lawyer.

At Graham Scofield Injury Lawyers, we believe that every client deserves competent legal representation. We’ll help you win justice if your lawyer committed legal malpractice. Our prior victories and our 5-star client reviews validate that promise.

Call us today at (404) 939-9470. Also, you may contact us through our online form to schedule a free case review with an Atlanta legal malpractice lawyer.

What Is Legal Malpractice?

Legal malpractice typically occurs when your lawyer neglects your case. For instance, if your lawyer files your lawsuit on the day that the statute of limitations expires they must timely serve each defendant. “Timely service” means that your lawyer usually must make a service attempt each day until they serve the defendant. If your lawyer takes a vacation and doesn’t attempt to serve the defendant for a week, the court will likely dismiss your lawsuit. If the court dismisses your lawsuit, you can’t recover compensation from the defendant that injured you. However, you can sue your lawyer for legal malpractice.

Not every form of attorney neglect constitutes legal malpractice. For instance, many potential clients call us and report that their attorneys never returned their phone calls. That’s a good sign that you should fire your attorney. You deserve a lawyer that properly communicates with you. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your attorney committed malpractice.

Other potential clients call us after they’ve received a bad result in their case. Perhaps, they lost at trial. Or, their case settled for less than they expected. If attorney neglect caused those outcomes, you may have a legal malpractice case. However, most cases go to trial because reasonable minds disagree about the case’s value. Thus, if you receive a bad trial result, it may just mean that the jury didn’t think your case was as valuable as you and your lawyer did.

Common Legal Malpractice Examples

Our legal team at Graham Scofield Injury Lawyers has litigated many types of legal malpractice cases. Below are some of the common ways that lawyers harm their clients’ cases. If you suffered a bad outcome because of one of these errors, you should call us ASAP.

Common attorney misconduct:

Failure to Know or Appropriately Apply the Law
Planning or Strategy Errors
Inadequate Investigations
Inadequate Discovery Participation
Missed Deadlines
Procrastination or Undue Delay
Failure to Obtain Client Consent
Improper Withdrawal From a Client’s Case
Conflicts of Interest
Libel or Slander of a Client
Discrimination, Harassment, or Other Civil Rights Violations
Mathematical Errors
Public Search Errors
Inadequate Client Communication
Lost Documents, Evidence, or Client Files
Improperly Delegated Work
Fraud
Mismanagement of Client Funds

How Our Atlanta Legal Malpractice Lawyers Can Help You

Our legal malpractice lawyers will strengthen your claim in several ways. Here’s how:

Evaluating Liability: First, we’ll obtain your former lawyer’s case file. Then, we’ll review the evidence and determine whether you had a strong case. Next, we’ll scrutize every decision that your lawyer made. If you would’ve obtained a good result but for your lawyer’s mistakes, we’ll hire a legal malpractice expert to give us a second opinion. If that expert agrees with us, we know you’ve got a solid legal malpractice case.
Calculating Your Case’s Value: The value of your legal malpractice case is determined by the value of your underling claim that failed due to attorney misconduct. So, if your underlying case arose from an auto collision, your damages typically include your medical bills and pain and suffering.
Negotiating A Settlement: Once we’ve investigated your case and evaluated your damages, we’ll negotiate with your former lawyer’s legal malpractice counsel. Most lawyers want to avoid being a defendant in a legal malpractice lawsuit. Therefore, many legal malpractice cases settle prior to lawsuit. However, if your former lawyer and his legal counsel won’t negotiate with us, we’ll file a lawsuit.
Litigation: If your case doesn’t settle pre-suit, we’ll get a sworn affidavit from a legal malpractice expert and file your case. Next, we’ll depose your former lawyer and establish that they mishandled your case. You’ll be deposed, as well, so that you can tell your story and explain the harms you suffered. Your case might settle after those depositions. If not, we’ll take it to trial and recover the compensation you deserve.

Our Atlanta Legal Malpractice Lawyers Can Help You

If you’re a legal malpractice victim, we can help! Call us today at (404) 939-9470 to schedule a free case review. Our Atlanta legal malpractice lawyers will help you win justice.

Learn More About Graham Scofield Injury Lawyers

About the Firm

How to File a Legal Malpractice Lawsuit

If you want to file a legal malpractice lawsuit, you should contact an Atlanta legal malpractice lawyer. Your lawyer will evaluate your potential claims. If you have a valuable claim, your lawyer will accept your case. Then, they’ll attempt to resolve it. If your case isn’t resolved pre-suit, your lawyer will file your lawsuit. Your lawsuit can be filed in the county where your former lawyer resides. It can also be filed in the county where the law firm has an office.

The lawsuit begins when your lawyer files the complaint. The complaint identifies you, as well as the lawyer and the law firm that committed malpractice. The complaint also explains the support for your legal malpractice allegations. Additionally, it specifies the damages you seek to recover. You must attach a sworn affidavit from a legal malpractice expert that is prepared to testify on your behalf.

If you hire our firm, we’ll make sure that your lawsuit is properly filed and served. Then, we’ll obtain documentary and testimonial evidence that supports your claims. If your former lawyer’s malpractice insurance carrier doesn’t offer you a fair settlement, we’ll take your case to trial.

How Do I Prove My Legal Malpractice Case?

In order to successfully resolve your case, you must demonstrate that your former lawyer was at fault and legally responsible for your damages. Specifically, you must prove the following elements:

You and the defendant had an attorney-client relationship.
The defendant failed to exercise ordinary care, skill, and diligence in your case.
The defendant’s actions, or inactions, are responsible for the bad outcome.
If the defendant hadn’t neglected your case, you would’ve had a favorable outcome.

It’s difficult to prove fault by yourself. In fact, your lawsuit will be dismissed if you don’t attach an expert affidavit to the complaint. Even if you have an expert affidavit that supports your claim, your former lawyer will deny liability. He may even hire his own legal malpractice expert to testify that his errors were harmless. Additionally, you also have to prove that you would have won the underlying case. Your former lawyer may contend that victory was uncertain because you had a weak case.

Don’t proceed on your own. Hire an Atlanta legal malpractice lawyer that will hold your former lawyer accountable.

Legal Malpractice Damages

Your legal malpractice damages are comparable to the damages you would’ve obtained if you won the underlying case that your lawyer mishandled. Additionally, you can recover the costs that you’ve spent pursuing your legal malpractice claim. You can also recover punitive damages if your prior lawyer’s misconduct was grossly negligent or egregious.

★★★★★

"When I felt all hope was lost, I contacted Graham Scofield to see if he could represent me. He immediately called me back and thoroughly reviewed with me the case. He was the most patient, kind, sympathetic and the upmost professional attorney throughout the entire process. He was also extremely knowledgeable about the law and was creative when the case worked through the twists and turns. He was also a heck of a fighter for me and got me more settlement than I was expecting. I only wish I called him sooner! Thank you so much Graham, you are an amazing lawyer!!" -Jason Niziol

Legal Malpractice Statute of Limitations

There is a four-year window to file Georgia legal malpractice claims. The statute of limitations (SOL) typically begins to run when the misconduct occurred. So, if the court dismissed your case because of your lawyer’s error, the SOL would begin to run on the date that the court filed the dismissal order. However, if your lawyer fraudulently concealed their misconduct from you, the statute of limitations is tolled until you discover the fraud.

You should speak with an experienced Atlanta legal malpractice lawyer ASAP. That way, your malpractice lawyer will have sufficient time to evaluate your claim and, if necessary, file and serve your lawsuit.

Contact Graham Scofield Injury Lawyers Today

If you lost your case or obtained a small settlement because of your previous attorney’s misconduct, we can help you. The lawyers at Graham Scofield Injury Lawyers have successfully litigated legal malpractice claims for decades. We’ll make sure you obtain justice.

Call us today at (404) 939-9470. Also, you may fill-out our online contact form to schedule a free case review with an Atlanta legal malpractice lawyer.