Joining New York in denying attorney malpractice claims based on criminal representation after a criminal convicion, cmoore.com reports that the WA Supreme Court says you can’t sue your defense attorney for malpractice after a criminal convicion.

In New York, the explanation is that a convicion is implicitly based upon adequate representation, and if there was inadquate representation, it should be dealt with in a CPL 440 motion.

Attorney malpractice, or professional malpractice is said to occur with the same frequency as medical malpractice. With more than 90,000 attorneys in New York State, and with more than 25,000 cases brought each year in New York County alone, the incidence of human mistake, deviations from good and accepted practice, and bad outcomes in litigation due to mistake [not lack of merit] is astronomical.

Attorneys are held to high standards in their representation, their communication, their writing and calendar control of their offices. Mistakes happen to people all the time; not all are corrected.

We will be dealing with these issues in the coming weeks and months.

Attorneys charge clients for disbursements. These disbursements may be court fees, fees for court transcripts, for deposition transcripts, for photocopying, for telefaxes, for telephone service, for computerized legal research, for postage, for messengers, for meals, for lodging, and for other necessities. Continue Reading Attorney Disbursements

In a recent successful case, plaintiff was a large real estate management company. Plaintiff was involved in a 500 million dollar financing involving 3 NYC downtown buildings. The general counsel asked one of the multiple large firms whether “mortgage spreading” could be used to avoid payment of new mortgage tax. When told “no”, the financing continued to closing. At closing it was determined that $1.7 million in mortgage tax could have been legally avoided, contrary to the advice. Prior to jury selection this case settled for $ 900,000. Continue Reading Unexpected Circumstances

A common law retaining lien entitles the outgoing attorney to retain all papers, securities, or money belonging to the client that came into the attorney’s possession in the course of representation, as security for payment of attorney’s fees. Arising from Judiciary Law 475, it is enforceable only by retention of the items themselves and is lost if the file or documents are no longer in the attorney’s possession. Continue Reading Charging and Retaining Liens

A common law retaining lien, known also as a “general possessory lien” entitles the outgoing attorney to “retain all papers, securities, or money belonging to the client” that came into the attorney’s possession in the course of representation, as security for payment of attorney’s fees” Continue Reading Liens in New York

The end of the relationship can come from any number of reasons, but the end is reached either before or at the end of the underlying litigation.

Termination by client

It is the general rule in the United States, and the rule in New York that an attorney’s representation of a client may be terminated at any time by the client, either for good cause or for no cause. Continue Reading Attorney Fees after Discharge

The fifth group arises from the failure to proffer necessary documents. The opponent to a summary judgment motion must offer admissible proof that a question of fact exists. The opponent of a threshold motion must offer the affidavit of a physician setting forth objective proofs of the injury. The proponent of a motion to restore a case marked off must offer an affidavit of merits. A motion to vacate a dismissal must contain an affidavit of merits. A motion to vacate a default requires both a reasonable excuse for the default along with an affidavit stating a meritorious cause of action or defense. The simple failure to append these documents may constitute malpractice. Continue Reading More Mistakes