An Alaska legal malpractice suit has the potential to upend your career, making it difficult to support yourself or your family. Many professional malpractice suits involving lawyers result from similar circumstances, with “overwork” now serving as the leading cause of legal malpractice lawsuits.
Per the American Bar Association, taking on too much work makes it difficult, or even impossible, for you to be able to devote the appropriate amount of time and attention to each case. While you may feel an inclination to take on numerous clients at once, a time may come when you need to stop taking on new clients so that you may cater to those you already have.
What constitutes overwork
Many legal malpractice suits involve allegations of attorneys simply missing important dates, deadlines or efforts because they have too much on their plates. In addition to missing dates and deadlines, failing to return client calls, failing to appear in court on time or making moves without a client’s consent may all result from stretching yourself too thin.
How to help prevent overwork
Resist the temptation to prioritize quantity over quality. Slow down and make an effort to give each client’s case the time and attention it deserves. Having a solid project management system in place that outlines where you need to be, when you need to be there and what you need to have ready should also lower your risk of a legal malpractice suit alleging overwork.
The strength of a client’s professional malpractice case depends on his or her ability to demonstrate certain things. Your client must show that you owed him or her a duty, shirked that duty and that he or she suffered a loss because of it.