care or diligence in the prosecution of the client's interests." In contrast with medical malpractice cases, it is not necessary for the plaintiff in a legal malpractice action to offer expert testimony as to the standard of care. Thus, a plaintiff need not offer expert testimony to show that an attorney has a duty, as a matter of law, to disclose and discuss with his or her client good faith offers to settle. A court has held that it "is well within the ordinary knowledge and experience of a layperson jury to recognize that ... the failure of an attorney to disclose such information is a breach of the professional standard of care."
Proximate or legal causation is generally defined as "[t]hat which, in a natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any efficient intervening cause, produces injury, and without which the result would not have occurred." Like duty, proximate cause depends upon foreseeability. A plaintiff shows causation in a malpractice case by showing that 'but for' the attorney's negligent or unethical conduct, the client/plain
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