12 Signs Your Lawyer Is Committing Malpractice

1. Your case was dismissed because something was filed late

Every lawsuit has a statute of limitations, and every case has internal deadlines for responses, discovery, expert disclosures, and appeals. A dismissal for untimeliness is among the easiest forms of malpractice to document, because the court order says why the case ended. See missed deadline claims and my lawyer missed a deadline: what now.

2. A default judgment was entered against you

If you were sued and your lawyer never filed an answer, the court may enter a default judgment, meaning you lose without a hearing on the merits. Ask for the docket sheet from the court clerk; it shows every filing and its date. A default can sometimes be set aside if a motion is filed quickly, so if this just happened, the first call is to a new lawyer about the original case, not about malpractice.

3. Your lawyer missed a hearing, trial date, or appeal deadline

A missed court date can lead to sanctions or dismissal. A missed appeal deadline can end your right to appeal. Ask for the order that followed and keep it. If your lawyer tells you a hearing was "continued" or "rescheduled," the docket will show whether that is true.

4. Settlement money or a retainer is missing or delayed without explanation

Money problems are the signs to act on fastest, because money that has been spent is hard to recover.

Under ABA Model Rule 1.15(a), a lawyer must hold client property separate from the lawyer's own property, which for money means a trust account. Repeated excuses about when you will be paid, or a refusal to show you the accounting, are red flags. After a settlement, ask for the settlement statement showing the gross amount, fees, costs, liens, and your share. A lawyer who cannot or will not produce one has a problem. See stolen client funds and how a client protection fund can help.

5. Bills for work that was never done, or fees far beyond the agreement

Compare every invoice to your retainer agreement. Under ABA Model Rule 1.16(d), when a representation ends a lawyer must refund any advance payment of fee or expense that has not been earned or incurred. Overbilling is usually a fee dispute, but billing for work that never happened can be more. Watch for vague entries repeated month after month, charges for a hearing that the docket shows never took place, or hourly billing on a matter you agreed to handle on contingency. See overbilling and fee disputes.

6. Your lawyer has a personal stake that conflicts with yours

Examples include representing the other side, going into business with you, or pushing a deal that benefits the lawyer or another client. The danger is that your lawyer's advice may be shaped by someone else's interest instead of yours, and you may never see it. A conflict of interest can be a breach of the lawyer's fiduciary duty of loyalty. See conflict of interest.

7. A settlement was accepted without your approval

Under ABA Model Rule 1.2(a), a lawyer must abide by the client's decision whether to settle a matter. If you learned about a settlement after it was done, or your signature appears on something you did not sign, that is a serious problem. The same concern applies in reverse: an offer you were never told about takes the decision away from you just as surely as a settlement you never approved. See settled without consent.

8. Your lawyer goes silent for months

ABA Model Rule 1.4 requires a lawyer to keep the client reasonably informed about the status of the matter and to promptly comply with reasonable requests for information. Silence alone is usually an ethics issue rather than malpractice. It becomes malpractice when the silence hides a missed deadline or a lost case. Send your questions in writing, with a reasonable date for a reply, so there is a record of what you asked and when. See lawyer not returning calls and abandonment and no communication.

9. You get a story that keeps changing, or a document that contradicts it

Being told a case is "still pending" when the docket shows it was dismissed is a strong sign something is being hidden. Concealment can matter for your deadline too: in California, a lawyer's willful concealment of the facts tolls the four-year outer limit (Code of Civil Procedure § 340.6). See my lawyer lied to me.

10. Obvious errors in contracts, deeds, wills, or trusts

Drafting mistakes often surface years later, when a deal closes, a property sells, or someone dies. In the ABA's 2020 to 2023 claims study, estate, trust, and probate work produced 13.58% of reported claims, more than any other practice area. See drafting errors and estate planning malpractice.

11. The lawyer never investigated or gathered evidence

No witnesses interviewed, no records requested, no discovery served, and no expert lined up when the case plainly needed one. ABA Model Rule 1.1 requires competent representation, which includes the legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary for the representation. See failure to investigate.

12. Advice that was wrong on a clear point of law

Advice to sign something, skip a filing, or take a tax position that no careful lawyer would have recommended. You often find out when a second lawyer, an accountant, or a court points out the problem. The key word is clear; a judgment call on an unsettled question is generally not malpractice. A second opinion from another lawyer in the same field is the fastest way to find out whether the advice was simply cautious or plainly wrong. See negligent legal advice.

A sign is not a case. For a malpractice claim, the problem must have caused you a loss you can measure in money. If your lawyer mishandled a lawsuit, you usually must also show you would have won or done better without the mistake, which courts call the case within a case. The Texas Supreme Court has said a lawyer can be negligent and yet cause no harm, and without harm no valid malpractice claim exists (Rogers v. Zanetti, 2017).

Sign	Usually points to
Missed deadline, dismissal, default	Malpractice claim, if the case had value
Settled without consent	Malpractice or fiduciary claim
Missing money	Fiduciary claim, client protection fund
High bill	Fee arbitration
Silence, rudeness	Bar grievance, unless it caused a loss

When several signs show up together

Signs tend to travel in groups. A lawyer who stops returning calls is often a lawyer who has fallen behind, and a lawyer who has fallen behind is the one most likely to miss a deadline. If you see silence plus a changing story, or silence plus a vague answer about where your money is, treat it as urgent. Check the docket, ask for the file, and get a second opinion that week rather than waiting for the next excuse.

Timing matters for another reason too. The malpractice deadline often starts running when you discover the problem, not when the lawyer admits it. Once you have noticed several of these signs, a court may later say you should have known something was wrong.

Our guide to what is not legal malpractice covers the gray areas.

1. Get your file. Ask in writing for your complete client file. ABA Model Rule 1.16(d) requires a lawyer to surrender papers and property the client is entitled to when the representation ends. See how to get your case file.
2. Check your deadline. Malpractice deadlines are short. California generally allows one year from discovery and four years at most. Some states pause the clock while the same lawyer keeps representing you, a rule called continuous representation, but do not count on it. Use the statute of limitations table.
3. Protect the underlying case. If the matter is still active, deadlines in that case keep running. A new lawyer may be able to fix a problem before it becomes a loss. See how to fire your lawyer.
4. Do not sign a release. Under ABA Model Rule 1.8(h), a lawyer may not settle a potential malpractice claim with an unrepresented client unless the client is advised in writing to get independent advice and given a reasonable chance to do so.
5. Get a second opinion. Use the evidence checklist to organize what you have, then read how to sue your lawyer.

If several of these signs fit and you lost money because of them, a free case review takes about two minutes.