The answer is the client gets screwed and a legal malpractice lawsuit happens.
One of the reasons we started our service is to get cases in the hands of the right attorneys. We can’t guarantee a result, but we do assure you that any attorney we recommend has demonstrated success and experience. A big problem in Illinois is attorneys who see dollar signs when a client calls them with a case. In a perfect world they would tell the client that they aren’t the right attorney for them and try and suggest someone who is. That doesn’t usually happen.
Case in point, the other day a woman called us about her attorney for a car accident case. On its face it was pretty simple as she was rear-ended by a CTA bus at a stoplight. Her injuries aren’t huge, but with $15,000 in medical bills it makes sense for her to have an attorney in her corner. She contacted one that said he could handle the case. Unfortunately he wasn’t really a Chicago car accident attorney and didn’t know that there are special rules for filing a case against the CTA. His usual practice involves traffic tickets and estate planning. His failure to formally notify them about the case within six months meant the case was a goner.
On the plus side he owned up to his mistake when he found out about it. On the downside, instead of giving the name of his legal malpractice insurance company, he is trying to work out the case on his own. She contacted us and we recommend a Chicago legal malpractice lawyer that will pursue the case for her. Now his insurance rates will probably go through the roof so he suffers. The client suffers because she has to wait longer to get her case resolved and she has bill collectors hounding her. Illinois attorneys suffer because this is just one more guy that gives us all a bad name.
If he had just not been greedy and pointed this nice woman in the right direction none of this would have happened.
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I’m fighting a case now,on behalf of a loved one, being abused in a mental hospital. I’m in need of a lawyer to represent I, against the lawyer who agreed that he could accomplish certain things needed, including fight the case and abuse. We have concluded paying him in FULL, he hasn’t produced like he reassured us that he would, my loved one is still being abused, he didn’t do anything to get him in protective custody as asked and now, we’re fighting to make him return the monies that he has been paid, for he BREACHED the understanding he made with us.
A court date is coming on the 24th of this month and I need representation! PLEASE HELP!
PS: I have done some work on the case myself for I believe in helping anyone that helps I.