Legal Question in Legal Malpractice in California

My attorney gave us a signed retainer agreement for his work to handle a divorce matter where there were disagreements in the family. In the retainer agreement, the names of the specific people we would have claims against are listed and it says he would represent us, and stop their harrassment. In the course of doing so, he filed an action against one of the people he named for doing something else (unrelated.) We were served with a counter-suit. The lawsuit was for a tangental subject, and our attorney decided on his own it was the thing to do to sue this person first. This question is in the malpractice section because our attorney did not properly defend us in the counter-suit. He failed to ask questions, get records and missed court deadline, so the other party eventually won. We had a ton of evidence that never made it in, due to his lack of follow through and failure to defend us. My question has to do with the retainer - is the attorney you hire only required to do what they write in that scope of work in the retainer, or doesn't the work grow to cover the other areas the attorney gets into? What I am trying to find out is, if the Judge reads the retainer and it gave a general description of what he was to do, and he does something else for the same client, doesn't that still mean you can sue him for malpractice for the negligence and losses that can be proven? He filed the lawsuit on a different subject, that led to the countersuit. Are you limited to what the attorney said previously in the retainer as their responsibility specifically 'when it comes to a malpractice claim,' in terms of winning the case? Or does the scope of work and duty to provide service keep growing and the attorney's liability branch out as the case and matters expand? Thank you and I find your sound advice helpful.

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