Did You Loose Your Case Because of Legal Malpractice?

Did you lose your case because of legal malpractice? Good afternoon. My name is Neil Burns. I'm an attorney and along with my partner, Roshan Jain, we represent victims of legal malpractice here in Massachusetts. And I've listed six reasons how we see legal malpractice impacting cases where people actually lose.

So the first is the statute of limitations. This happens a lot. The attorney doesn't like your case, or screws up, or isn't paying attention, and he or she blows, misses the statute of limitations. You had a case, you were going to win, the damages may have been unknown, but you certainly had a shot at winning, a good shot, better than average shot at winning, better than fifty percent shot at winning, and you don't have any case anymore because the statute blew or missed the statute of limitations.

So, if you have that, you certainly have a legal malpractice case, and we've tried many of those cases, and we've settled many of those cases. Second reason is civil procedure, and it's basically the same thing. The attorney loses your case, your lawyer loses your case, because he or she failed to follow the rules of civil procedure.

They're not complicated rules if you're a lawyer. They're what you learn in your first year in law school. And you have to follow them, you have to know what the court rules are, the state rules are, and they are all, they're different rules in different courts. The probate court has different rules from the superior court and the district court has different rules from those courts as well.

You usually have an option or a chance to get back in the game if you screw up. But attorneys are neglectful sometimes. They have their own problems or they just blew it for some reason or another and you can lose your case that way. The third reason is the attorney is conflicted. He or she thinks that they're smarter than you or your adversary and that they can resolve this matter by representing both sides or having represented one side and being conflicted by representing you.

That happens a lot. It's really hard to get them to admit that they were conflicted because again, in my opinion, they believe they're smarter than you or smarter than the system and that they were going to make it happen. The fourth reason is they fail to subpoena a witness. And this is basically basic trial practice or even discovery practice. If you don't get the right evidence to the other side, either in discovery or at trial, you can lose the case.

Number five is they're just not prepared. This happens a lot in divorce cases where they think they're gonna settle it and they have to last minute because they're not prepared. It also happens in every other type of case where an attorney really isn't prepared. The final reason that I find, and it goes to all the other reasons, is failure to communicate.

Failure to communicate. Lawyers don't communicate with their clients. Clients don't know what's going on. Lawyer doesn't remember to subpoena the witness, doesn't ask the client, is there anything I'm missing and the lawyer tries to settle a case without quite understanding the damages or missing a key witness or subpoenaing documents, whatever it is, the communication is absolutely key.

If you think your lawyer screwed up, your lawyer lost your case because you, because he or she failed to do what they were supposed to do, call Burns and Jain. We've been in this building since 1987. I've been practicing law since 1985. Along with my partner, Roshan Jain, we will represent you. We will get a favorable verdict. If we find you have a valid case, it's a free initial consultation. Call Burns and Jain. 617-227-7423. Thank you.