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Legal
Representation and Legal Malpractice
For the ordinary person, the need for legal
representation is rare, and the television
may be the only exposure to the legal business
at work. So the conduct of the legal business
may be somewhat different than one might expect
if a persons' only exposure is television.
Keep some things in mind.
Lawyers are trained in the process
and substance of law. By that I mean that they
are trained in how the law is made, how it is
implemented, how the judicial system works, and
how to find out what the law is. This th the process
of the law.
A lawyer is also trained in finding what the law
is, interpreting the law, implementing the law,
and analyzing the law. That is the substance of
the law.
Aside from that a lawyer is in a business like
any other. The lawyer performs a service. The
client has to have a problem that is open to the
lawyers services.
For example a lawyer can get the insurance company
of a negligent driver to pay an injured client
money.
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If the negligent driver does not have insurance,
it will be very difficult to force the driver to pay money
even if the best of all attorneys handles the matter, because most people do not have enough money to cover an injured persons
damages.
So how do you select a lawyer? It will help to have a well
defined problem. Select a lawyer that has some interest in
the type of problem that you have, or an interest in you,
or some knowledge of the circumstances. Select a lawyer with
whom you are comfortable and acts the way you would expect
i.e. he/she answers your questions, returns your phone calls, keeps appointments, shows up in court on time. All of us
have violated these things a time or two but if it is repeated,
it should be a warning. If something does not seem right to
you ask a question about it. Understand you fee arrangement
with the lawyer.
There is no "best" lawyers or "toughest" lawyer. There are
lawyers who do their jobs well, and these are most of the members
of the profession. This the type of lawyer you need.
Finally expect to pay for the service you receive. The only
lawyers I know of who are not very good are lawyers, on a
regular basis, who don not set appropriate fees, clear fees.
In the event there is a break down in the attorney/client
relation ship, you may have a claim against the lawyer. All
lawyers are held to a standard of care you may have a claim against your lawyer for neglect, fraud, breach of fiduciary
duty, breach of contract, or other theory of liability. To
prevail on such a claim it is usually required that
1. There be an attorney client relationship
2. There be a breach of the standard of care
3. The breach was the proximate cause of damage
4. The damage would not have occurred "but for" the lawyers
neglect
For example; if you owe someone $10,000 and get sued. You then hire a lawyer to defend you on it, but if the lawyer
fails to show up in court, you do not show up because that
is what you hired the lawyer to do, and the court enters a
judgment by default against you in your absence, it is unlikely
that you will win a legal malpractice claim against the lawyer.
You owed the money anyway.
John J. Allan
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