Indiana Personal Injury Lawyers Guilty of Malpractice
No profession is perfect. Even Indiana personal injury lawyers can be guilty of malpractice. Are you a victim of legal malpractice in the State Of Indiana? If so, read on.
As in all professions you have both ethical and unethical workers. No profession is immune from unethical workers and those that break the law. As such, unfortunately, you may come across an unethical and/or lawbreaking attorney.
In the State Of Indiana, when you retain an attorney, that attorney is legally obligated to provide you with vigorous representation. In fact, that attorney is bound by Rules Of Professional Conduct.
Your attorney should be fully cognizant of all applicable laws relevant to your legal matter and he or she should be competent in vigorously representing you in accordance with them. If not, he or she is bound to disclose that to you.
Your attorney should vigorously represent you. Your attorney should not overcharge you. Your attorney should return your phone calls within a reasonable amount of time. Your attorney should respond to your letters within a reasonable amount of time. Your attorney should keep you reasonably informed as to the status of the legal matter for which he or she is representing you. Your attorney should provide you with impartial counsel, even if it may be something that you don’t want to hear. With limited exceptions, your attorney may not disclose things that you have disclosed to him or her. Your attorney must avoid any conflicts of interest (one obvious example would be that your attorney may not represent you if he or she is also representing the client that you are suing).
If you think that your attorney has broken the law or has not represented you in accordance with the Rules Of Professional Conduct, you do have options, although not necessarily pleasant ones.
Obviously, if you believe your attorney has broken the law, you are obligated to contact the local prosecutor and report it. Bear in mind, it is the local prosecutor who will decide whether or not to pursue criminal charges against the attorney. Please note the local prosecutor does not represent you.
You may also file a complaint of what you believe to be is an ethics violation by your attorney with the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission (the sole governmental entity responsible for investigating complaints of legal malpractice by attorneys licensed in the State Of Indiana). Please note, while Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission will investigate the complaint and may discipline or disbar the attorney, it will not act as your attorney. And be aware that the Supreme Court Disciplinary commission is also charged with protecting attorneys licensed in the State Of Indiana from false accusations of misconduct.
If you believe your attorney was incompetent and/or unethical in representing you, unfortunately, your best recourse is to seek counsel from another attorney. Most Indianapolis injury attorneys are likely uncomfortable in discussing this; but, there are some who will represent you for legal malpractice. You will probably need to do some research to find an attorney who will represent you in a malpractice complaint about your attorney. One possible source of information is the Indiana Bar Association.
