Legal Question in Legal Malpractice in California

Generally, a party's presence is not required at an ex parte hearing. In fact, some courts don't even permit the attorneys to speak with the judge. Either papers are just submitted or the attorneys speak with a law clerk.

Without further information, I cannot consider whether your attorney's actions were incompetent. The first step in seeking a refund or even considering a malpractice claim is to send the attorney a well-written letter, by certified return-receipt mail, outlining your concerns and explaining why you believe you shouldn't have lost the case, the attorney's "fatal" mistakes, and why -- at the very least -- you want a refund. The attorney is required to advise you that you are entitled to have your fee claim subject to non-binding arbitration. If that doesn't resolve the issues to your satisfaction, then you can take the next step with a lawsuit. The problem with malpractice lawsuits is that you'll have to prove that, but for the attorney's mistakes, you would have won the underlying case. It could cost you a bundle for legal experts to read the entire file, formulate their opinions, submit to depositions, and appear at trial.