Ocean Springs Legal Malpractice Attorneys

Clients trust attorneys to handle sensitive legal matters with competence, integrity, and care. When that trust is broken, through serious errors, negligence, or ethical misconduct, the consequences can be financially and personally devastating. Legal malpractice occurs when an attorney fails to meet the professional standard of care, causing harm to the client as a result.

At Rushing & Guice, PLLC, we represent individuals and businesses in Ocean Springs and throughout Mississippi who have been harmed by an attorney’s professional negligence. These cases are complex and require a firm with deep experience in both trial strategy and legal ethics. Our legal malpractice attorneys can evaluate whether your former attorney breached a professional duty and help you pursue appropriate compensation for your losses.

Few law firms in Mississippi handle legal malpractice claims. Rushing & Guice, PLLC, brings decades of experience, ethical insight, and a deep respect for the legal profession making us uniquely qualified to represent clients in claims against negligent lawyers.

Legal malpractice is the name given to situations where attorneys are negligent, make a mistake or otherwise fail to do what they should have done for their clients.

A legal malpractice lawsuit is one of the available remedies to this situation. However, to be successful in a legal malpractice case, we must be able to prove each of these four elements:

1. An attorney-client relationship existed
2. The attorney breached the duty of care to the client
3. The attorney’s breach of duty contributed to the client’s damages, and
4. The client suffered financially as a result of the conduct of the attorney.

The “measure of damages” is the difference between (1) where the client should be had the legal malpractice not occurred and (2) where the client is as a result of the malpractice.

Attorneys are sworn to confidentiality and to protect your legal interests. Failure to exercise this duty of care may be sufficient grounds for a legal malpractice lawsuit.

A breach of confidentiality is sometimes referred to as a “breach of the attorney-client privilege.” Some other typical examples of legal malpractice in Mississippi include:

• Missed deadlines or statutes of limitations
• Conflicts of interest (such as representing both parties)
• Failing to properly investigate claims
• Failure to appear or follow court orders
• Omitting valid claims or defenses
• Errors or omissions resulting in the dismissal of a client’s case
• Mishandling client funds
• Engaging in unfair dealings
• Failing to follow reasonable client instructions
• Poor execution of legal documents
• Lack of response to discovery
• Breach of contract/fiduciary duty
• Exerting undue influence against the client’s interest
• Malicious, excessive, or frivolous litigation at the client’s expense
• Obstruction of justice
• Presenting false evidence
• Endangering a case through reckless behavior
• Improper billing practices or billing fraud

We can summarize the main categories of legal malpractice cases as follows:

The types of compensation that you may be able to claim for losses in a legal malpractice case usually relate to the original case — and may include:

• The loss of compensatory damages that may have been awarded to you if your lawyer had not been negligent or misrepresented you.
• The loss of potential punitive damages that may have been awarded to you if your lawyer had not been negligent or misrepresented you.
• Expenses and legal fees incurred from the original case.
• The value of any lost property that was directly caused by legal malpractice.

In Mississippi, you have three years from the date the attorney-client relationship ended (or you became aware of the malpractice) to file a legal malpractice claim against an attorney or firm that represented you.

After three years, you generally waive the right to file a claim.

Attorneys should not be above the law and are rightly held to lofty professional standards. People in need of legal assistance should be able to confidently expect that their case will be treated with respect and care. Fortunately, this does apply most of the time in Mississippi.

If you have been improperly treated or misrepresented by your attorney, you may have a valid legal malpractice claim. To successfully prosecute such a claim, though, you will require the assistance of an attorney, which you may be reluctant to do after your trust in the legal profession has been shaken.

To help you seek redress for past experiences, we can work out a suitable arrangement with you for filing a legal malpractice claim, regardless of the size of the firm that has wronged you.

If you’re in the Ocean Springs area of Mississippi, contact a legal malpractice attorney at Rushing & Guice, PLLC, for legal advice and assistance with pursuing a claim.