Four Elements of Legal Malpractice in Texas
When an attorney fails to provide competent representation, it can wreak havoc on the lives of clients. You may be stuck facing your original legal issue as well as the harm caused by your lawyer’s negligence. Fortunately, you have rights as a client to seek recourse when your attorney’s professional performance falls short of reasonable standards.
To successfully pursue a legal malpractice claim, the following key elements of legal malpractice in Texas must be established:
- An attorney-client relationship existed, creating a duty of care;
- The attorney breached this duty through negligence or misconduct;
- The breach proximately caused harm to the client;
- AND the client suffered actual damages as a result.
If you believe you’ve been a victim of legal malpractice in Texas, contact Ross Sears at Sears Crawford today. We sue lawyers who have breached their professional duties and fight vigorously to help clients recover the compensation they deserve. Call Ross at Sears Crawford today at (713) 223-3333 to take the first step towards justice.
What is legal malpractice?
Before we dive into the specific elements of legal malpractice in Texas, it’s important to understand what is considered malpractice for an attorney. Legal malpractice occurs when an attorney “acts, or fails to act,” in the way that a reasonable and prudent lawyer would under the same or similar circumstances, resulting in harm to the client.
Reasons to sue an attorney for legal malpractice may include:
- Missing critical filing deadlines
- Failing to apply relevant laws or precedents
- Inadequate case preparation
- Conflicts of interest
- Overbilling
- Mishandling of client funds
- Providing incorrect legal advice
In essence, any deviation from the professional standard of care that causes measurable harm to a client’s case or interests may qualify as legal malpractice. However, it’s worth noting that mere dissatisfaction with the outcome of a case doesn’t automatically constitute grounds for a malpractice lawsuit — your attorney’s conduct must fall below professional standards and cause damage to you or your case.
Continue reading: What is legal malpractice?
What are the four elements of malpractice?
1. An attorney-client relationship must exist, creating a duty of care
The foundation of any legal malpractice claim begins with establishing an attorney-client relationship. This relationship can be formed through a formal written contract, but it may also arise from an implied agreement when a client reasonably believes the attorney is representing them and the attorney has reason to know of this belief.
In Texas, once this relationship is established, the attorney owes the client specific professional duties including competence, diligence, communication, and loyalty.
The scope of representation helps determine the extent of the attorney’s duty. For example, if an attorney agreed to handle only a specific aspect of a legal matter, their duty may not extend to other issues. Documentation of the relationship, such as engagement letters, fee agreements, or communication records, often serves as critical evidence in establishing this first essential element of legal malpractice in Texas.
2. The attorney must breach this duty through negligence or misconduct
Once an attorney-client relationship is established, the next element involves proving the attorney failed to meet the professional standard of care. This standard is typically defined as the level of skill, knowledge, and diligence that a reasonably competent attorney in the same practice area would exercise under similar circumstances.
What are grounds for legal malpractice? They generally involve deviations from this standard of care, not merely strategic decisions that led to unfavorable outcomes.
As mentioned above, common breaches include missing deadlines, failing to conduct adequate legal research,etc. Expert testimony from other attorneys in the same field is usually necessary to establish that the attorney’s conduct fell below the accepted standard of care in the specific context of the representation.
3. The breach must proximately cause harm to the client
Proving causation is often the most challenging aspect of a legal malpractice claim. It requires demonstrating that the attorney’s negligence was the cause of the harm suffered, not other factors beyond the attorney’s control.
In Texas, this often involves what’s known as the “case within a case” or “but for” test — proving that but for the attorney’s negligence, the client would have achieved a more favorable outcome in the underlying legal matter.
For instance, if an attorney failed to call a key witness in a trial, the client must show that this testimony would likely have changed the outcome. This requires reconstructing what would have happened if the attorney had acted competently, which can be complex and speculative. Courts examine whether the attorney’s breach was a substantial factor in causing the client’s loss and whether that loss was a foreseeable consequence of the breach.
4. The client must suffer actual damages as a result
The final element of legal malpractice requires proof of actual, quantifiable damages. It’s not enough to show that an attorney made a mistake — the error must have caused real harm that can be measured in financial terms.
In legal malpractice Texas cases, damages may include the value of a lost claim, additional costs incurred to fix the attorney’s mistake, lost opportunities, or other financial consequences proximately attributable to the attorney’s negligence.
Damages cannot be speculative or based merely on emotional distress (though some exceptions exist). For example, if an attorney’s negligence caused a client to lose a valid lawsuit worth $100,000, that amount could constitute damages.
Similarly, if attorney errors in a business transaction cost the client additional taxes or penalties, these quantifiable losses would satisfy the damages element. The client bears the burden of proving the nature and extent of these damages with reasonable probability.
Legal malpractice examples
Understanding the types of legal malpractice can help you recognize when you may have grounds for a claim. Here are three concrete examples that illustrate how attorney negligence can manifest in practice:
1. Missed deadlines
An attorney fails to meet a crucial filing deadline in a personal injury case, despite having ample time to prepare. By the time the client realizes the mistake, their case is significantly weakened or even dismissed outright. Missing key deadlines can severely impact a client’s ability to pursue their claim, making this one of the most straightforward types of legal malpractice.
2. Conflicts of interest
A business attorney represents both sides in a partnership dispute without obtaining proper informed consent from either party. The attorney then uses confidential information from one client to benefit the other — a clear breach of fiduciary duty representing a serious ethical violation. In short, a conflict of interest compromises the client’s right to loyal and unbiased representation.
3. Failure to know or apply the law
An attorney handling a complex medical malpractice case fails to consult appropriate expert witnesses or thoroughly review medical records before trial. As a result, they miss the expert report filing deadline, or they’re unable to effectively challenge the defense’s expert testimony, leading to a dismissal of the case.
Lawyers have a legal obligation to maintain a high standard of care in specialized litigation; and malpractice occurs when their lack of preparation proximately causes the client to lose a potentially valid claim.
These examples represent just a few of the many ways attorneys can breach their professional duty, resulting in actionable legal malpractice claims in Texas.
Legal representation gone wrong? Sears Crawford can make it right.
When you’ve been harmed by attorney negligence, you deserve skilled advocates who understand how to navigate the complex elements of legal malpractice in Texas. Ross Sears has over 30 years of experience holding negligent attorneys accountable for their professional failures — and he can do the same for you.
We have a proven track record of successfully litigating these challenging cases and helping clients recover what they’ve lost due to substandard legal representation. As your advocate, we will carefully evaluate your case, provide an honest assessment of your options, and vigorously pursue the compensation you deserve if we determine you have a valid claim.
Don’t let the statute of limitations expire on your right to seek justice. Call us today at (713) 223-3333 or contact us online for a confidential consultation.
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- Texas Rules of Professional Conduct Lawyers Explained
- How to Sue a Lawyer for Malpractice
- Tips for Finding a Lawyer to Sue Another Lawyer
- Using a Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawyer in Houston
- What Constitutes a Conflict of Interest?