You have legal problems. That’s why you hired an attorney in the first place – you needed advisement from an expert who knows their way around the law. But what happens when your lawyer is stacking on the difficulties instead of helping you through them?

Your attorney’s job as a professional in the legal field is to calm the waters, clarify legal jargon and make things easier for you, not the other way around. So if you have been misrepresented, lied to, or if your case is being handled by an incompetent lawyer, you probably have a case against him or her – although winning the case might not be a walk in the park.

First thing’s first: Is poor performance a valid enough reason to sue? How do you know when your attorney has committed malpractice?

There is a lot of grey area in this answer, but we have some guidelines that you can follow in order to make your determination a little bit easier. A client can sue his or her attorney for negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and for breach of contract. The following are some common grounds for which you may sue your attorney.

Your lawyer has abandoned your case Your case was tossed out of court due to a lack of research and effort on the part of your attorney Your attorney has settled your case without your permission Your attorney has misused your retainer money Your lawyer is representing another client to your disadvantage Your lawyer has made glaringly obvious errors that a professional in his or her field should have never made Your attorney has failed to contact you – your phone calls and emails have been left unattended for a long period of time

If your situation falls into any of these guidelines you may have a case. Next, we have outlined seven steps that you can take to start the process of filing a lawsuit.

7 Steps to Filing a Lawsuit

Here’s how to file a lawsuit against your attorney: