Legal Malpractice In Criminal Defense Cases
If you or a loved one has been convicted of a crime, there may be certain things you wish the defense attorney had done differently.
This is natural.
If the attorney’s actions (or inaction) harmed your case, you may have a legal malpractice claim.
Contact our experienced Connecticut legal malpractice lawyers at (860) 561-0651 or filling out our online form today for a consultation.
Our Practice is Limited to Connecticut
We handle Connecticut legal malpractice claims. We won’t review cases where financial losses are less than $100,000.
Before You File a Legal Malpractice Lawsuit
If you believe your defense attorney’s negligence led to your conviction, you may consider filing a legal malpractice lawsuit.
The process, however, is not as simple as it may first appear.
The courts have taken steps to ensure that those convicted of crimes shoulder the full responsibility for those crimes. This means that a defense attorney should not be liable for malpractice unless there is a showing of fault.
When a criminal defendant believes their defense attorney was negligent, it is up to them to prove it.
Before a client who has been convicted of a crime may sue for legal malpractice, many jurisdictions will require the previous conviction to have been overturned or corrected in some way, such as having the sentence reduced.
Before you can sue your defense attorney for legal malpractice, therefore, you must first attend to your criminal case.
However, your state may not require your criminal sentence to be modified before you file a legal malpractice lawsuit.
If this is true, and you win the malpractice lawsuit, it does not mean that your criminal sentence will automatically be overturned due to ineffective assistance of counsel. That is a separate issue.
What You Need to Prove in a Criminal Defense Legal Malpractice Lawsuit
A defense attorney’s mistakes must have been serious enough that the attorney breached his or her duty to the client and thereby harmed the client.
Even if the defense attorney was negligent in defending the client, that alone is not enough to prove malpractice. It is just the start.
The client must also show that but for the attorney’s mistakes, the client would not have been convicted.
Contact an Experienced Legal Malpractice Attorney
Since laws on ineffective assistance of counsel vary by state, you should consult an attorney familiar with local laws.
It is also important to make sure that you file your legal claim before the statute of limitations (the time limit for taking legal action) runs out.
Contact StangerLaw LLC online or call (860) 561-0651 today to learn your rights and obligations for bringing a Connecticut legal malpractice lawsuit against your former criminal defense attorney.
