Obviously my facetiousness is painfully obvious to any person who has spent part of their existence reading this blog post. Of course lawyers can perform incompetently just as much as you can find shoddy work done by a plumber, doctor, electrician, engineer, barber, biologist, etc. A peculiar twist to "bad lawyering" is what recourse is available to the aggrieved party. Many people know that a lawyer can be sued for malpractice if they perform below the standard of care. However, another consequence is that a person can seek to have an adverse judgment against them reversed if they received "ineffective assistance of counsel," the legal term used to describe bad lawyering.
A recent unpublished appellate opinion addressed the issue of ineffective assistance of counsel in a probate matter.
"Donald K. Dawson (Dawson) appeals from an order denying a petition to rescind the transfer of title of a mobile home and include it and specified funds in the estate of decedent Doris Rose Dawson. (Prob. Code, § 850 et seq.) Dawson contends the trial court erred when it: (1) excluded an expert opinion that a release of ownership of the mobile home was not signed by decedent, (2) failed to find withdrawals from decedent's bank account were unauthorized, and (3) failed to find elder abuse. He also contends his counsel provided ineffective assistance, and he was denied equal protection of the law."
The appellate court addressed these issues in order before turning to the appellant's ineffective assistance of counsel argument.
"Dawson further contends his counsel was ineffective. We reject this contention because the doctrine of ineffective assistance of counsel applies to criminal cases and limited categories of civil cases not applicable here, such as "`where the litigant may lose his physical liberty if he loses the litigation'" (In re Marriage of Campi (2013) 212 Cal.App.4th 1565, 1574), juvenile dependency proceedings (id. at p. 1575), and LPS conservatorships (Conservatorship of David L. (2008) 164 Cal.App.4th 701, 710)."
Estate of Dawson, Ventura County Superior Court case no. 56-2022-00567630-PR-LA-OXN.
In contrast, in a criminal case, a defendant may seek to have their conviction reversed on appeal if they can prove that they received ineffective assistance of counsel. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668.
