Medical malpractice happens when a doctor acts below the standard of care that their clients should receive. As a result, a patient may suffer harm. Likewise, attorneys can act in a way that affects a client’s case, which may lead to legal malpractice.
Legal malpractice doesn’t just happen because an attorney lost a case for their client, causing them to be upset. An attorney may have done everything they could for a client and still lose a case. Legal malpractice happens when an attorney doesn’t take the necessary steps to help a client.
One example of legal malpractice happens when an attorney misses an important deadline, which has affected a client’s case. Here’s what you should know.
Deadlines are crucial for successful legal claims
Every legal case is unique and, as such, each has to meet multiple deadlines to meet. Lawyers have a fiduciary duty to meet these deadlines. There also may be a statute of limitations with which to taking legal action.
Failing to meet deadlines can negatively affect a client’s chance of winning a case. While deadlines may be missed because an attorney didn’t know about it, they may know about a deadline and fail to meet it, causing a failure to calendar. Either way, it’s an attorney’s job to know the deadlines. Paperwork that isn’t turned in on time can cause clients to lose their right to compensation, damages or defense options.
It can be hard to put your trust in someone after an attorney lets you down. However, you may not want to let their action go unpunished. You may need to reach out for legal help to learn about your options.