Professional Negligence Attorney
in Columbia, South Carolina

Most people are familiar with the concepts of medical and legal malpractice. Professional negligence is a complex area of law, which requires careful scrutiny of cases and almost always requires an experienced attorney to prove the case to the satisfaction of a jury or any other fact-finder. A lawyer’s experience is invaluable to a successful outcome and to properly assess the case and determine how to approach and handle it.

My law firm, the Law Office of Daryl G. Hawkins, has always put emphasis on these areas of practice. I have handled numerous such cases over my 30-plus years of practice, having won my first medical malpractice case in 1986, only a few years after finishing law school and my clerkship for the South Carolina Supreme Court. I represent both plaintiffs and defendants in negligence actions.

Common Professions for Negligence Claims

The law recognizes many professions where breaches of duty may have occurred and the court has left the door open for more such claims as more professions develop over time. Some examples include:

• Architecture

• Accounting

• Chiropractic care

• Dentistry

• Land surveying

• Therapy, psychology and counseling

• Optometry

• Pharmacy

• Physician assistance

• Engineering

• Veterinary medicine

Not every bad outcome in a professional relationship means that the professional was negligent. For example, a doctor can do everything he or she should have done and the patient still dies.

Professional Negligence: What You Need to Know

The standard of care is what other professionals in the same field would have done, or not done, in the same or similar circumstances. The standard of care depends on testimony from another professional qualified in the same area and field of expertise as the professional whose work is being reviewed to determine whether a breach of the duty of care has occurred. In other words, have they fallen below the standard of care.

Professional negligence is when a professional falls below the standard of care in the performance of his or her duties. Negligence is the name the law gives to carelessness. It occurs when:

1. One person owed a duty to one or more persons

2. They have failed to fulfill that duty or have breached that duty

3. As a result, someone suffered damages

It includes a failure to do something that a professional should have done (omission), or the doing of something they should not have done (commission) in the circumstances then and there prevailing.

Get Skilled Legal Counsel in A Professional Negligence Case

I am ready to provide the assertive defense that you need to keep your license. Contact the Law Office of Daryl G. Hawkins to discuss your situation with me in a free consultation. To reach my law firm in Columbia, call us or send me an email.