Personal Injury LawProfessional Negligence |
Are all attorney or legal malpractice claims based on negligence law? |
No, legal malpractice law can occur based on contract law and breach of fiduciary duty. Remember that you sign a contract with an attorney when you enter into an attorney-client relationship. If the attorney violates the terms of that contract, he or she can be liable for breach of contract.
Also, an attorney owes a client a duty of loyalty and a duty of confidentiality. This imposes a special duty—called a fiduciary duty—upon the attorney. If the attorney violates either of those duties, then the attorney may be on the hook for a malpractice claim for breach of fiduciary duty.