In most cases clients choose their attorneys carefully, and stick with them until the end. However, sometimes things don’t go as planned, and attorney-client relationships sour due to poor communications, lack of understanding, or perceived mistakes by the attorney. In those situations, clients must hire replacement counsel, hoping they will salvage their case and eventually obtain a successful outcome. The replacement attorney then has a unique opportunity to be a hero and win what might have appeared to be a “broken,” unwinnable case.
Such representations also pose unique challenges and risk. The replacement counsel usually has to overcome whatever issues or errors arose from the prior counsel’s work. The client may be hoping for a miracle that cannot be delivered. There is also a chance that if there is any potential legal malpractice liability arising from prior counsel’s work, that potential liability becomes a shared risk between both the old attorney and the new one. Here are five tips for reducing those risks.
