Attorneys are hired to provide reliable, informed guidance during some of life’s most critical moments, from business disputes and injury claims to criminal defense and civil litigation. But what happens if the advice your lawyer gives you turns out to be wrong? Does poor legal guidance always qualify as malpractice, or is there a legal standard that must be met first?
If you're dealing with the consequences of an attorney’s bad advice, it's understandable to feel frustrated or even betrayed. However, not every mistake or poor strategy rises to the level of legal malpractice. To determine whether you have a valid claim, it’s important to understand what legal malpractice really is and how courts evaluate these cases.
Legal malpractice occurs when an attorney breaches their duty of care to a client, resulting in harm. In Colorado, and most other jurisdictions, four basic elements must be proven in a legal malpractice claim:
Giving incorrect legal advice could meet this standard, but only if it’s shown to be more than just a strategic error or difference in opinion. The advice must fall below the acceptable standard of care in the legal profession, and it must have directly caused harm.
Lawyers often deal with complex legal questions where there is no clear right or wrong answer. Just because your attorney’s advice didn’t produce the result you were hoping for doesn’t necessarily mean malpractice occurred.
To cross the line into malpractice, the advice must reflect a clear failure to understand or apply the law, such as:
For example, if your lawyer told you that your lawsuit didn’t need to be filed by a specific deadline and it was later dismissed for being untimely, that may constitute malpractice. On the other hand, if your lawyer made a strategic recommendation that simply didn’t pan out, that’s likely not actionable, even if you suffered a loss.
If you believe your attorney’s advice may have crossed the line, legal malpractice attorneys can assess your case and determine whether you have grounds for a claim.
Courts reviewing legal malpractice claims don’t look at a lawyer’s performance in hindsight or based solely on the outcome. Instead, they ask whether a competent attorney, under similar circumstances, would have provided the same advice. This is often referred to as the "standard of care."
To establish a breach of this standard, expert testimony is usually required. That means another attorney, typically practicing in the same field, will need to testify that your original lawyer’s conduct fell below the accepted professional norms.
In cases involving complex areas of law, like tax, corporate law, or civil litigation, this analysis can be especially nuanced. The courts understand that legal decisions often involve judgment calls, and even reasonable attorneys may disagree on the best approach. That’s why bad advice alone is not enough; you must show that it was objectively unreasonable under the circumstances.
Even if your attorney’s advice was clearly negligent, you still must prove that it caused actual harm. This is often the most difficult part of a malpractice claim. You’ll need to demonstrate that, if not for the attorney’s bad advice, the outcome would have been materially better.
This requirement is known as the "case within a case" standard. Essentially, you must prove two things: that the attorney was negligent and that the original case would have been successful had it been handled correctly. If you can’t prove both, your claim is unlikely to succeed.
For example, if your attorney advised you to reject a reasonable settlement offer and your case later lost at trial, you would need to show that the advice to reject the settlement was professionally unreasonable and that the offer was in fact better than what you ultimately received.
If you believe that bad advice from your attorney has caused you serious harm, it’s important to act quickly. Legal malpractice claims are subject to strict deadlines. In Colorado, you typically have two years from the date you discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, the malpractice to file a claim.
Before filing a lawsuit, consider gathering as much documentation as possible, including emails, contracts, court filings, and any communications that reflect the advice you were given. This evidence will be critical in evaluating whether the attorney’s conduct meets the standard for malpractice.
It’s also a good idea to speak with a law firm that focuses exclusively on legal malpractice claims. These cases are different from other civil litigation matters and require a deep understanding of the legal profession itself. Cimino Law Office in Denver focuses on holding attorneys accountable when they breach their duties to clients.
Contact us today if you believe your lawyer’s bad advice may have cost you your case or caused significant financial harm. We’re here to help you understand your options and hold negligent attorneys responsible.
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Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting.
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting.
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting.
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