People in Jacksonville in need of legal help naturally expect that their attorney will represent them to the best of their ability. After all, usually those who find themselves in a position where they have to pursue a lawsuit are already facing a good deal of stress. This stress can be exacerbated if a person believes their lawyer is not communicating with them properly.
In fact, if taken far enough, lack of communication could lead to a person having to fire their attorney and perhaps even sue the attorney for malpractice. You would think that in this day and age, with the plethora of means for communication, that the lines of communication between an attorney and their client would be easy to maintain. After all, between email, cell phones, text messages and the Internet, there should be no excuse if your attorney repeatedly and consistently fails to respond to a phone call or email.
However, if there is a lack of communication, a person may want to take some other steps first before deciding whether or not to pursue a malpractice claim. First of all, it might help for the person to write a letter to their attorney asking why there has been a lack of communication. After all, there may be a valid reason. In this letter, it may not be the best choice to threaten a lawsuit just yet.
If writing a letter doesn’t yield an acceptable response, before deciding whether or not to sue for professional malpractice, it might help to try mediation first. Through mediation, a person and their attorney could have a discussion regarding their expectations, why they have not been met and how the situation can be rectified. For some, the mediation process ends in an even stronger attorney-client relationship.
That being said, if letter-writing and mediation do not resolve the issue, and a person’s attorney still does not communicate with them in a timely and proper manner, then it may be time for the person to consider firing their attorney and seeking the help of a second attorney. The second attorney can help the person determine whether or not it would be best to pursue a legal malpractice case.
Source: FindLaw, “Legal Malpractice Claims,” Accessed Jan. 9, 2017