Many attorneys can effectively manage large caseloads if they are well-organized and have the necessary staff and resources to meet the demands and interests of their clients. However, law offices face significant overhead costs, including rent, supplies, insurance, and salaries for associates, paralegals, and legal assistants. Attorneys often have to cover litigation costs for clients, particularly in cases handled on a contingency basis.
Accordingly, it can be tempting for lawyers to take on multiple clients who pay by the hour instead of focusing on a few contingency cases, such as personal injury lawsuits, which can take months or even years to resolve or go to trial. Or, to recommend settling contingent fee cases for far less than their worth to get “cash flow” into their office.
When an attorney becomes overextended by taking on too many clients, the quality of their work may decline, and clients may suffer as a result. Attorneys must recognize when their caseload has become unmanageable and when errors are starting to occur to avoid the risk of a potential legal malpractice claim.
What Can Happen With Case Overloads
The American Bar Association has reported that client overload is the leading cause of attorney malpractice claims. When attorneys handle too many cases, they can easily overlook deadlines, miss or frequently delay meetings with clients or court appearances, and fail to respond to client communications. This overwhelming workload can also lead to significant emotional distress for attorneys. Unfortunately, it is possible for stressed-out lawyers to struggle with alcohol or drug abuse as a coping mechanism that can be disastrous for their clients. Or to simply neglect, or undersettle a case.
Attorneys have ethical obligations to their clients and often act as fiduciaries, which requires a high standard of care. If their performance falls short of established professional standards and causes financial losses to the client, the affected client may have a valid claim for legal malpractice.
Another risk associated with client overload is substandard work on legal briefs and motions. Attorneys may take shortcuts or neglect necessary investigations and discovery required for a case. A case can be lost due to a failure to locate a key witness or to obtain a statement that could have benefited the client. Additionally, missing crucial deadlines for filing documents, motions, or claims—or failing to competently challenge motions that admit adverse evidence—can result in legal negligence claims.
Conflicting Interests Among Multiple Clients
When representing multiple parties in a single litigation, it is crucial to consider the possibility of conflicting interests among the parties. The attorney must carefully review the complaint or claim to identify any potential conflicts. If conflicts do exist, the attorney should either refer certain parties to other attorneys with whom she can collaborate or obtain informed consent from all parties involved. This can be risky, particularly if one party has not been fully informed about relevant matters or if the attorney’s ability to represent one client effectively is compromised by obligations to another.
Even if the parties are willing to sign conflict waivers of informed consent documents, the attorney must assess whether representing one party would negatively impact the interests of another client. For instance, she should examine the relationships between the parties for any conflicts or consider any prior representation against one party that may create a conflict of interest. Cross-examining a client regarding the case might reveal information that could be harmful to one client while benefiting another. The attorney should inform each client of their right to consult with another attorney before agreeing to any conflict waivers of informed consents.
If the case is expected to be particularly demanding, the attorney must assess her ability to manage her other clients and their cases. If she anticipates being significantly constrained by the demands of this case and her other responsibilities, she should consider referring clients to other attorneys or declining to take on the case altogether.
If a client believes that their interests were compromised due to a conflict of interest, or that they were neglected because the attorney was overloaded with too many clients, leading to an unfavorable outcome, they should seek advice from a legal malpractice attorney.
This can especially happen if the attorney tries to represent a driver and a passenger in a motor vehicle accident case.
Consult a Legal Malpractice Attorney from Burns and Jain
Legal malpractice claims are intricate and necessitate the expertise and resources of a skilled legal malpractice attorney. To succeed in your claim, you must prove that your attorney failed to meet specific standards of competence. Additionally, you need to show that this failure or omission was a significant factor in your unfavorable outcome, that you would have succeeded if not for your attorney’s mistakes, and that you experienced harm as a result.
If your legal malpractice attorney determines that your original attorney was overwhelmed with an unreasonably large caseload, further investigation may reveal that your interests were handled negligently.
Do not hesitate to reach out to a legal malpractice attorney at Burns and Jain. Call us for a consultation regarding your potential claim.