When lawyers are negligent when representing their clients or violate their duty, those affected by their professional failure may want to take legal action against them. A legal malpractice lawsuit allows those harmed by a lawyer’s failure to effectively represent them to demand accountability and possibly even financial compensation to decrease the impact of the lawyer’s professional misconduct or negligence.
Most legal malpractice lawsuits in New York are subject to a strict three-year statute of limitations. The countdown for the statute of limitations begins on the date when the attorney commits the legal error, not when the client discovers the error or its consequences. However, those who end up affected by a serious mistake early in a legal matter that continues to unfold for years afterward can potentially invoke the legal doctrine of continuous representation to hold their attorney accountable.
What is the continuous representation doctrine?
Those navigating legal matters may not feel comfortable taking immediate action about one serious mistake while they have other aspects of their legal issue still pending. If an attorney blows a statute of limitations on one part of a legal matter but still has several other filings in the works for a client with a complex legal problem, the client may not want to switch attorneys midway through the legal issue due to its complexity.
They likely also recognize that suing their attorney in the middle of a case could impact the quality of representation they receive or result in the lawyer dropping them as a client. They can wait until the resolution of their pending matters to initiate a legal malpractice lawsuit.
The continuous representation doctrine allows for the tolling of the statute of limitations. The clock for the three-year timeline may only begin counting down after the lawyer ceases actively representing them.
It is important to recognize that the continuous representation doctrine only applies to scenarios where there is a continued representation for a specific legal matter related to the issue that warrants the legal malpractice lawsuit. Random, infrequent contact with a prior attorney does not necessarily give the client the right to pursue a lawsuit and invoke the continuous representation doctrine.
Those unsure of whether or not they have grounds for a legal malpractice lawsuit may need to discuss the matter with an attorney who specializes in this unique form of litigation. A conversation with a legal malpractice lawyer can help those affected by another lawyer’s mistakes understand their rights and take appropriate action accordingly.