Chicago Legal Malpractice Lawyer Blog
The ARDC has brought a complaint against an Illinois lawyer, accusing him, among other things, of failing to diligently handle litigation that was assigned to him in his firm, failing to keep clients informed and, most seriously, preparing a fake court order to cover up his own negligence and providing a copy of that court order to a partner in the firm.
Every now and then there is a case like this where someone makes a mistake by missing a deadline in responding to a motion, loses the motion and then tries to cover it up with misrepresentations. This is a sad case. The negligent act, failing to respond to a motion for summary judgment, caused a judgment to be entered against a client. Had the bad result and the error been communicated to the client promptly, the lawyer would have been terminated, but would not be facing professional discipline.
Comment: these are allegations in a complaint and have not been proven. By commenting on them, I do not endorse them or make any comment on whether they are true or false.
Edward X. Clinton, Jr.