Illinois Legal Malpractice Attorneys

We are Illinois lawyers who can help you find an attorney willing to sue another attorney. Call our office at 312-346-5320 or 800-517-1614 to speak with an attorney for FREE and get pointed in the right direction. Or fill out our contact form to tell us about your situation and we will contact you. All inquiries are free and confidential.

Let us start by dispelling a myth. We will absolutely sue other attorneys in Illinois. We love suing other attorneys. To us it’s no different than suing a doctor or anyone else. Mistakes happen and when someone is negligent and causes you a financial loss, they need to be held accountable. Since 2001 we have helped hundreds of people resolve their claims against other lawyers in Illinois.

What Is An Illinois Legal Malpractice Lawsuit?

Legal malpractice occurs when an attorney intentionally or negligently mishandles a case and causes injury to a client. Unlike a car accident where the injury is physical, most legal malpractice lawsuits in Illinois involve a financial injury. In other words you sue and prove that the attorney’s misconduct caused a financial harm. If there is not a financial harm, it can be a challenge to bring a case.

It can be difficult to find an Illinois legal malpractice lawyer because few attorneys focus their practice solely on this area. Some don’t because there aren’t enough cases to make a living on. Others don’t do it because they feel uncomfortable suing their peers. Fortunately, we have identified a group of talented legal malpractice attorneys throughout Illinois who have aggressively and successfully pursued cases in this area. If you have suffered a financial harm as the result of attorney malpractice we know lawyers from Chicago to southern Illinois who will investigate your claim.

Why And How Legal Malpractice Happens

Every case is of course different. Even some of the most elite law firms in Illinois have made mistakes that they have been sued for. Generally speaking though, it is our experience that a big factor in malpractice occurring is attorneys trying to handle cases that they are not qualified to take. Maybe they are usually a divorce lawyer and a client calls about a car accident. They think, “how hard can it be” and hope to make a lot of money instead of doing the right thing by the client and referring the case to someone who is more experienced in that area of law.

Other times attorneys are either bad at their job or overwhelmed with work and make careless errors. We have had cases where an attorney simply forgot to file a motion and that caused a spouse to lose out on their half of a retirement account. In one terrible case, an attorney failed to file a motion which caused his client to sit in jail for an extra 18 months.  They do not teach you in law school how to be organized, have a good docket system or how to hire a good support staff. That can lead to innocent clients suffering.

And in some awful situations, an attorney is going through personal issues or just does not care any more and they let their clients suffer as a result. Sometimes this just means that the case gets wrongly delayed. Other times it means that the client is truly harmed.

Whatever the reason for this happening, we want to help you and get your some justice if we can.

What It Takes To Win An Illinois Legal Malpractice Lawsuit

Although we do know many experienced attorneys, bear in mind that legal malpractice cases are difficult to win. You must not only show that your attorney was negligent and caused you irreparable harm, but also that without your attorney’s negligence, your case would have been successful. Simple judgment calls made by the attorney that cause a bad result are often not enough to bring a successful legal malpractice claim.

Essentially, when you file a legal malpractice suit in Illinois, your attorney has to try two cases. First, the attorney must prove that the original attorney was negligent and committed legal malpractice. Second, the attorney must put forth the evidence that your first attorney should have and convince the jury that, had everything been done correctly, you would have prevailed and then finally show what the result would have been.

A pretty straightforward example is if you sustained a serious injury when a truck slid off the road and hit you on the sidewalk and the lawyer you hired failed to file the suit on time. Your Illinois malpractice attorney would have to put on evidence showing that your former attorney was negligent in failing to file suit on time. It becomes much more difficult when you are alleging that you lost because your attorney failed to call a certain witness or ask a certain question. Even if you do prove your original attorney was at fault, you must also prove that had your original attorney done everything correctly you would have won and prove what the damages would have been.

You also need to show something called irreparable harm. That means the mistake the lawyer made can not be fixed. We often get contacted by people who have had absolutely terrible attorneys on their case who have made mistakes. But if another attorney could come in and fix that mistake then you would not have a legal malpractice case. That can be tough to hear because essentially a bad lawyer gets away with delaying your case. But the truth is you need harm that can not be fixed.

Time Limits For Suing An Attorney In Illinois

Like any other case in Illinois, there is a statute of limitations for suing your lawyer. You must file suit within two years of when you knew or should have known that malpractice occurred. And you can never go back farther than six years to bring a case. So let’s say you got into a car accident on January 2, 2024. That means that your attorney had until January 2, 2026 to file the lawsuit. If in February of 2026 you discovered that no lawsuit was filed, you would have two years from that date to sue your attorney for malpractice.

If a lawyer knows they screwed up, they have a duty to tell you so. Like we said, mistakes happen and that is why attorneys carry malpractice insurance, We have seen some very unethical lawyers know that they made a mistake and lied to their client about it for years. They are hoping the six years will pass and they will get away with the harm they’ve caused. This is why it is extremely important to not only stay on top of your case, but to call an attorney when you know or suspect something has gone wrong.

Cost To Hire An Illinois Legal Malpractice Attorney

Every malpractice attorney we know and recommend works on a contingency basis. That means there is no fee to hire them and they only get paid if they make a recovery for you. That fee is usually 1/3 of what they get you. If they get nothing, you would owe them nothing.

Because they only get paid if they win the case, the attorneys we recommend are usually looking for at least $50,000 in provable financial damages to consider a claim.

Next Steps

We are attorneys who help people find the right lawyer for their situation. If you have questions as to whether or not you have a case or would like an attorney referral please contact us at any time. All calls are free and confidential. We can’t promise you an outcome, but do promise to treat you like a family member or friend. We would be happy to help you at any time.