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Reliable And Experienced Help For Legal Malpractice
Last updated on September 10, 2025
If an attorney does not provide competent service or behaves unethically, you may have the right to seek compensation for your damages. At Leeseberg Tuttle, we help clients in Columbus and throughout Ohio who have suffered harm from an attorney’s negligence, also known as legal malpractice.
Our attorneys use more than 75 combined years of experience to represent people who have experienced malpractice by an attorney in personal injury, medical malpractice or other civil litigation. Applying our diligence and skill, we thoroughly investigate the details of your circumstances, build a conclusive case and hold negligent attorneys accountable for their actions.
Legal Malpractice In Ohio: Frequently Asked Questions
Lawyer negligence and legal malpractice are a tricky area of the law and can be highly sensitive in nature. For example, if your negligent attorney is still representing you, it can be difficult to know what to do next and how to proceed. Therefore, our attorneys answer some frequently asked questions with respect to legal malpractice and lawyer negligence.
What is legal malpractice?
Lawyers have obligations and duties to their clients. In the state of Ohio, if those duties are breached, the client may have a claim for legal malpractice. To prove legal malpractice, the client must establish that there was an attorney-client relationship, the attorney breached a duty to their client, and that breach of duty resulted in damages to the client.
Examples of legal malpractice include:
- Failure to disclose a conflict of interest
- Misuse of client funds
- Missing a filing deadline on a case
- Mishandling a case
- Failing to advise and inform a client about the ongoing details of their case
- Filing a lawsuit against the wrong party
An attorney is expected to act with competence, good judgment and conduct themselves in good faith. If an attorney acts competently and in good faith, an error in judgment does not necessarily subject them to legal malpractice.
I believe my attorney was negligent, but my legal matter is ongoing, and my attorney still represents me. What should I do?
The circumstances of every case are unique, and it can be difficult to know what to do when you are in the thick of a potential legal malpractice matter. It might also be tempting to want to fire your lawyer and hire a new one. First and foremost, a client should not take any steps that may jeopardize their case. If the legal matter is ongoing, the client should do everything they can to keep the matter moving forward, even though the eventual outcome may have been jeopardized.
The best way for a client to know what to do next is to seek advice from an experienced legal malpractice lawyer. Getting advice from an attorney who understands legal malpractice will help ensure that you are taking the appropriate steps in an ongoing legal matter.
In a claim for legal malpractice, do I have to prove that I would have won my case?
In the state of Ohio, a client must show that their case has merit, but there is no requirement to completely prove the case within a case, as is sometimes required in other states.
How are damages calculated in a claim for legal malpractice?
Every case is different and unique. Legal malpractice in a personal injury case will look different than legal malpractice in a real estate transaction. Generally, in a legal malpractice claim, the potential for economic loss or gain is used to calculate the damages a client sustained due to an attorney’s negligence.
For example, if you can prove that an attorney’s negligence resulted in a much lower settlement, you may be entitled to damages for the difference between that and what you should have received. If you were the defendant in a case and had to pay more because of an attorney’s misconduct or malpractice, you may be entitled to the difference between what you paid and the lesser amount you should have had to pay.
Who pays for a legal malpractice claim?
In Ohio, a lawyer must either have legal malpractice insurance (also known as professional liability coverage) or, if they do not carry such coverage, they must tell the clients who hire them that they do not have coverage.
Likewise, if they terminate coverage, they must also inform their clients that they no longer have coverage. In the event of a legal malpractice claim, the attorney’s professional liability coverage will cover any potential damages within the policy’s limits.
How long do I have to file a claim for legal malpractice?
In Ohio, plaintiffs must file a legal malpractice lawsuit within one year of the date that they discover or should have discovered their attorney’s wrongful behavior. In 2021, the 134th General Assembly passed Senate Bill 13, which grants a four-year statute of repose alongside the statute of limitations. This means there is an absolute deadline to file a legal malpractice claim within four years of the negligence, regardless of when you discover the attorney’s negligence.
Each and every potential claim for legal malpractice will have its own unique set of facts and circumstances. We know that if you are considering pursuing a claim for legal malpractice against a negligent lawyer, you probably have a lot more questions.
At Leeseberg Tuttle, we offer free consultations. This way, we can walk through the facts and circumstances of your particular legal issue and potential legal malpractice claim.
Why Place Your Trust In Our Team?
When clients endure a negative experience with a lawyer who mishandled an important legal matter, trust in attorneys can be damaged. At Leeseberg Tuttle, we work hard to rebuild that trust in attorneys by diligently, thoughtfully and aggressively representing clients against those negligent attorneys. You can rely on our reputation for excellence and credentials, which include:
- Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America
- Selected for inclusion in the Ohio Super Lawyers list for several years
- Board-certified in trial advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy
- Multiple multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements
- Renowned for success among peers, professional experts and past clients
Our firm has handled many legal malpractice cases and provides strong support to both personal injury malpractice and personal injury clients. We are one of the few law firms in the country with full-time nurses on staff who review and evaluate medical issues. We also use a worldwide database of medical literature and work with a large network of medical experts, including surgeons, physical therapists and other specialists, who can testify on your behalf.
Along with these resources, we focus on providing caring and responsive service. We meet with you in person or virtually to learn about your past experiences and create the best plan for seeking justice. When you call, text or email, you will receive a prompt reply from one of our compassionate team members.
Discuss How We Can Help With Legal Malpractice – Free Consultations
Again, Ohio has a one-year statute of limitations on legal malpractice claims. Due to the time-sensitive nature of these cases, you should consult our attorneys as soon as you can. We handle legal malpractice cases on a contingency fee basis. That means, if we do not recover compensation for your damages, we do not collect a fee from you.
To schedule a free, confidential consultation, please call us toll-free at 855-445-6266 or send us an email.