 Legal Malpractice FAQs
 What is legal malpractice?- I know someone who was wrongfully convicted of a crime, and I think his lawyer did many things wrong during the trial. Is that malpractice?
- My last lawyer committed malpractice, and now I am supposed to trust another lawyer? Isn’t that asking a lot?
- If I win the malpractice case, what can I recover?
- I want my former lawyer to be punished for how badly he or she handled my matter. How can I do this?
1. What is legal malpractice?
Legal malpractice refers to a type of civil claim that can be brought by a person (almost always a former client) against his or her former lawyer. The term “malpractice” suggests that the lawyer did something wrong during the representation of the client, and that whatever the lawyer did wrong caused the client to suffer some financial harm.
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2. I know someone who was wrongfully convicted of a crime, and I
think his lawyer did many things wrong during the trial. Is that malpractice?
It may be, but in criminal cases, first and foremost, the person who was wrongfully convicted should focus (presumably with a new lawyer) on getting his conviction reversed on appeal or through other post-trial procedures. In the context of criminal cases, the doctrine called “ineffective assistance of counsel” is similar to (though not the same as) legal malpractice. If it can be shown that the criminal defendant’s lawyer was ineffective, then the lawyer’s substandard representation may be grounds to overturn the conviction. However, in order to even consider a claim for malpractice, the conviction must first be overturned, because as long as the person stands convicted of the crime (and is therefore considered guilty under the law), there would be no way to prove a claim of legal malpractice.
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3. My last lawyer committed malpractice, and now I am supposed to trust another lawyer? Isn’t that asking a lot?
Yes, it is. We recognize that our legal malpractice clients often believe, and justifiably, that they have been “burned” once already by placing their trust in a lawyer or law firm that ended up making their original problem worse. That is why the lawyers of Jones, Jensen & Harris do our level best to provide the highest quality representation, with particular understanding of the circumstances that led the client to seek us out in the first instance.
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4. If I win the malpractice case, what can I recover?
Generally, the recoverable damages in a legal malpractice lawsuit are the measurable or quantifiable financial harm that can be shown to be the result of the lawyer’s malpractice. In a few cases, it may be possible to prove that the lawyer’s misconduct was more than merely negligent, and rose to the level of recklessness or bad faith. In those cases, it may be possible to recover other types of damages, including your attorney’s fees (in the malpractice case) and punitive damages.
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5. I want my former lawyer to be punished for how badly he or she handled my matter. How can I do this?
A legal malpractice claim is a civil action for damages, and does not result in any punitive measure against the lawyer. In fact, if the lawyer has insurance, he or she may not even have to pay most of the amount that may be paid to compensate you. If you want the State Bar of Georgia to investigate the lawyer’s actions, you must file a grievance with the Bar. If it finds that the lawyer violated the Rules of Professional Conduct, then it may punish the lawyer (see Attorney Ethics and Violations). The decision to file a Bar grievance is completely separate from the decision to pursue a legal malpractice claim, because the criteria for ethics violations are different from the criteria for proving a legal malpractice claim.
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