Hawaii Legal Malpractice Attorney

Civil Lawsuits for Legal Malpractice

Attorneys are obligated to meet the standard of care when counseling and representing their clients. Unfortunately, not every attorney meets this duty.

If you suffered losses because a lawyer you hired failed to act in a manner consistent with community standards for ethical and professional care, it may be worthwhile to investigate if you have grounds to bring a legal malpractice lawsuit.

At Bostwick & Peterson, LLP, our Hawaii legal malpractice lawyers can explore your options for recovering damages caused by an attorney’s negligence. Our firm has recovered over $1 billion in compensation for clients and millions for legal malpractice victims. Some examples of our recoveries:

• $6.4 Million: Jury verdict for a 32-year-old client who had been paralyzed in an auto accident at the age of 16 and whose previous lawyer settled for $250,000. We argued the lawyer failed to identify a viable medical malpractice claim by missing other potential defendants. The trial ultimately concerned both the issue of medical malpractice against a hospital and several doctors and the claim of legal malpractice against the lawyer and his firm.
• $6 Million: We represented the victim of an auto accident explosion who was not advised by their attorney about the risks of rejecting a settlement offer before a favorable ruling for the defense at trial resulted in a settlement for the same amount the plaintiff would have received had they settled initially.

We’re available to review legal malpractice claims arising from an underlying medical malpractice, birth injury, or serious personal injury case. Contact us for a FREE consultation.

When Can I Sue an Attorney for Legal Malpractice?

Attorneys make mistakes, but sometimes those mistakes have major consequences for clients.

Whether a lawyer’s conduct rises to the level of malpractice will depend on what happened in your particular case. However, there are three general questions to consider when evaluating if an attorney’s actions or inaction justify legal action:

1. Was the lawyer negligent? Attorneys have obligations to act consistently with the community standard of care, which means not every mistake or error is sufficient cause for action. However, when attorneys fail to comply with accepted standards and their clients suffer losses, it’s worth exploring if there’s a potential legal malpractice claim.
2. Did the attorney’s mistake result in damages? As in other civil claims, victims will need to prove that an attorney’s substandard counsel caused them to suffer losses. One example would be an attorney’s failure to file a lawsuit before the expiration of the statute of limitations. If the client was unlikely to win the claim, there are no damages and no grounds for a claim. If the client can prove to a legal certainty that they would have prevailed had the claim been timely filed, however, there may be cause for action (though the client would also need to prove how much their damages would be been).
3. Did the client suffer significant losses? Legal malpractice cases can be complex and costly, as they essentially litigate an attorney’s alleged negligence and the underlying legal situation. They also often require the use of an expert to evaluate an attorney’s conduct and the client’s estimated damages. So unless damages suffered by a wronged client are significant, it may not always be prudent to pursue a claim.

Determining if a lawyer can be held liable for malpractice requires investigatory work. At Bostwick & Peterson, our experience allows us to evaluate a range of underlying situations that give rise to legal malpractice claims. Our attorneys can further discuss your options during a FREE consultation.