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Illinois Law On Duty In A Legal Malpractice Case
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We try to write in "plain English" to explain areas of Illinois law. This page discusses who an attorney in IL has a duty to. After we wrote it we realized it's not in plain English, but hopefully it makes sense.
The general rule has been that the attorney is liable only to his client, not to third persons. The concept of privity has protected attorneys from malpractice claims by non-clients. However, the trend in tort law has been to abolish privity of contract, as a prerequisite to establishing a duty. While privity of contract has been abolished in many areas of tort law, the concern is still that liability for negligence not extend to an unlimited and unknown number of potential plaintiffs.
Therefore, for an Illinois attorney to owe a duty to a non-client, the non-client must prove that he is in the nature of third-party intended beneficiary of the relationship between the client and the attorney in order to recover in tort. In addition, an attorney could owe a duty to a non-client under legal malpractice laws if the lawyer performs acts which are reasonably foreseeable to affect the non-client and the non-client relies on such actions.
Does this sound confusing? It can be. If you think you might have an Illinois legal malpractice lawsuit or have questions, you should seek an Illinois legal malpractice attorney. There would not likely be any fee for an attorney to answer your questions. In addition, if you have a question about legal malpractice, you cancontact us, or visit our main legal malpractice page.