Las Vegas Legal Malpractice Lawyers

Sam Harding Law Firm have experience in handling Legal Malpractice cases in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you or a someone you know has suffered serious injury from an Legal Malpractice in the state of Nevada, we can help.

Malpractice is a breach by a professional in the standard of care or in the standard of conduct. Malpractice is negligence or misconduct by a professional, such as a lawyer, a doctor, a dentist, or an accountant. Malpractice is when a client or patient is injured or damaged to a failure in the standard of care or conduct.

Legal malpractice falls under a specific set of guidelines that may vary from state to state. A lawyer has a duty to act with honesty, good faith, fairness, and integrity in all dealings with a client.

There are four general areas of legal malpractice:

• Negligent errors
• Negligence in the professional conduct
• Fee disputes
• Claims made by an adversary or non-client towards a lawyer

Negligent errors are most commonly associated with legal malpractice. This is when a lawyer commits an error that would have been avoided by a competent lawyer. A lawyer is expected to have the legal skill and experience normally possessed by members of the profession. A client can charge his lawyer with malpractice if the lawyer gave improper advice, failed to file documents, does not prepare documents, or make a faulty analysis in examining the title to real estate. If an error occurs because an issue of law is debatable or unsettled then a legal malpractice suit is not likely to succeed.

Malpractice may be charged when there is negligence in the professional conduct. Lawyers who handle the attorney-client relationship unprofessionally or improperly may be charged with misconduct. This includes:

• Failure to communicate the particulars, the realities and difficulties, of a case.
• Using information obtained from a client as a result of attorney-client privilege.
• Acquiring an interest that is adverse to the client even when the attorney-client relationship is terminated.
• Undue influence was used and the client did not receive the same benefits and advantages as someone else.
• Not providing an accurate and detailed account of all money and property handled for the client.
• Not paying all funds owed to the client (a lawyer may have to pay interest in this case).

If any behavior by a lawyer's associates, partners, legal staff, assistants results in losses to the client.

Fee disputes are when a lawyer sues a client for recovery of fees. In this case the client may claim malpractice as a defense resulting in a reduction or elimination of the lawyer's fees. Due to this the frequency of these claims is reducing.

Claims made by a non-client against a lawyer are when a third party is injured by the lawyer's representation. This does not involve a deficiency of service provided to the client. In representing the client if any emotional distress, abuse of process, or defamation is caused to a third-party it may result in a legal malpractice suit. These suits are rarely successful except for malicious prosecution.

A licensed member of the legal profession currently practicing law must make determining legal malpractice. Many factors affect this determination such as state laws and the time from the injury to when the case is filed.