Legal Corner

Suggestions: California & San Diego specific
ThePeopleRule 509 reads
posted

1)  Look at the following links:

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/criminal-law

http://www.andreslaw.com/NewSite/FAQs_2.html

2)  The San Diego County Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service will give you the name of an attorney who will provide a free 30 minute consultation:
https://www.sdcba.org/index.cfm?pg=mainlris

3)  You can obtain a "second opinion" by also using the North County Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service:
http://www.lawreferral.org/

4)  The applicable Statute of Limitations may be as short as one year after the alleged attorney malpractice, so you should consult with an attorney ASAP.

5)  Your 30 minute consultation will be most productive if you type up a 1-2 page summary of your matter and mail it to the attorney well before your appointment.

6)  Look at the California State Bar website re filing a complaint:
http://calbar.ca.gov/Attorneys/LawyerRegulation.aspx

7)  The San Diego County Law Library has locations in Vista, El Cajon, Chula Vista, and downtown.  They cannot provide legal advice but they can tell you where sources in the library are located relating to your question.  Going to the downtown branch would be advisable since they receive the most lay people walking in with questions, including those who have been arrested and booked into the jail next door.
http://sandiegolawlibrary.org/about-us/locations-hours/

8)  University of San Diego's Legal Research Center in Linda Vista has free on-campus parking.  There should be available spaces this time of year but parking will become more difficult as the new semester approaches.  If the guard is at the entrance tell him you are there to use the law library and he will issue you a parking pass.

9) Use a word processor with spell check in preparing written documents so that you do not have typos such as you have in your post.  (This reply was not prepared in a word processor.)

This information is pro bono.  If you are not a paying VIP here, consider paying and thereby contributing to the cause of women having freedom of choice.

Hello I was hoping for some info or details or links or anything to assist me in determining if I have a case against my attorney regrind a case he was hired for. There are two glaring issues for me that suggest he did not do his du diligence in my case namely being corresponding with both parties involved as well as questionable ethics when requesting plea options.

Thank you for your assistance, and no this isn't hobby related nor life or death.  
Just hoping for more info because there is severe anxiety and emotional distress resulting from the outcome.

About 10 month have passed since the "end" of the situation - just a note.

Thank you.

Most have an ombudsman to represent the side of a client who feels they were somehow wronged by their lawyer, and often can forge some kind of settlement that may help you.

Another route is to contact whatever state agency licenses lawyers in your state and ask them to investigate.  Do you have concrete documents like letters and emails which can help to prove you were wronged?

Last route is to find a lawyer to take your case, but that can be expensive and tricky

ThePeopleRule510 reads

1)  Look at the following links:

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/criminal-law

http://www.andreslaw.com/NewSite/FAQs_2.html

2)  The San Diego County Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service will give you the name of an attorney who will provide a free 30 minute consultation:
https://www.sdcba.org/index.cfm?pg=mainlris

3)  You can obtain a "second opinion" by also using the North County Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service:
http://www.lawreferral.org/

4)  The applicable Statute of Limitations may be as short as one year after the alleged attorney malpractice, so you should consult with an attorney ASAP.

5)  Your 30 minute consultation will be most productive if you type up a 1-2 page summary of your matter and mail it to the attorney well before your appointment.

6)  Look at the California State Bar website re filing a complaint:
http://calbar.ca.gov/Attorneys/LawyerRegulation.aspx

7)  The San Diego County Law Library has locations in Vista, El Cajon, Chula Vista, and downtown.  They cannot provide legal advice but they can tell you where sources in the library are located relating to your question.  Going to the downtown branch would be advisable since they receive the most lay people walking in with questions, including those who have been arrested and booked into the jail next door.
http://sandiegolawlibrary.org/about-us/locations-hours/

8)  University of San Diego's Legal Research Center in Linda Vista has free on-campus parking.  There should be available spaces this time of year but parking will become more difficult as the new semester approaches.  If the guard is at the entrance tell him you are there to use the law library and he will issue you a parking pass.

9) Use a word processor with spell check in preparing written documents so that you do not have typos such as you have in your post.  (This reply was not prepared in a word processor.)

This information is pro bono.  If you are not a paying VIP here, consider paying and thereby contributing to the cause of women having freedom of choice.

The biggest hurdle one needs to overcome is establishing factual innocence, which is quite rare. That means you would have had to been completely innocent of any wrong doing. If you have any culpability for any criminal act related to the case, you are very unlikely to prevail in a malpractice suit.

A bar complaint is always an option but all that will do is maybe get you a refund of some of your fees and maybe have the attorney disciplined but that too is a long shot. The bar is set pretty low for the attorneys, documentation of minimal due diligence in a case that ending in a plea is usually sufficient to avoid any discipline

...If you were convicted of a crime, you may have the verdict set aside on appeal because of "inadequate assistance of counsel.  If you're successful doing that doing that, you may pursue the attorney in civil court for money damages.

Corwin of Avalon has given you the best advice.  In Paragraph 1 of his post, if this was a criminal case and you somehow manage to sue him for malpractice, your guilt or innocence in the underlying case may have to be re-tried.  I'm not sure you'd want to go through that.

Paragraph 2 of Corwin's post may be your best shot - a complaint to the STATE BAR, not, I repeat NOT a bar association (I really wish mr. "still not a lawyer" fisher would finally get that fucking right).  If the attorney gets suspended or disbarred (a long shot), you may get some personal satisfaction and maybe restitution of your attorney fees, but that's about it.

a bar association which is a private association of lawyers and which can act in a way to assist one in finding a lawyer or mediating a complaint; as opposed to a state bar (In my state, it is called the Board of Bar Overseers) which is a governmental bureau where you can go to file a legal complaint against a lawyer.

Please elucidate me if there's something wrong with that brief overview.

I'm always wanting to learn

There really is a difference. In some states - known as 'involuntary bar' states, the State Bar is the disciplinary body. In others ("voluntary bar" states), there is a separate body that regulates attorneys, and the "State Bar" association does not have any legal authority.. Oddly, even courts blow it - I saw one case were the Court in State A quoted the "Bar Association" of State B as State B's authority on the matter (State A was reviewing a case of first impression there, and looking to see what other state's positions were). Unfortunately, I know for a fact that State B's Bar Assocation is a voluntary one, and its opinion letters do not carry the weight of authority - they are only advisory. Simply said, the court looked at the wrong agency in State B. Had they looked at the right agency, they would not have found any opinion, as there is no 'official' position by State B on the issue. Basically, it comes down to research....

Either way, to prevail on a malpractice claim, the claimant must show that 'but for' the malpractice, the outcome would have been different. Essentially, it's a trial-within-a-trial - first you show you would have won on the underlying matter, then you show the malpractice and its impact. A very, very tough wall to climb, even on a civl matter

ThePeopleRule408 reads

Goldie was not interested enough to pay her post a visit and thank those who took time to reply.

At $600/hour she must be busy doing other things.

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