Paid a lawyer $1,200 to review a lease and he missed a clause that cost me another $3,000 in fees.

Has anyone else paid a Chicago real estate attorney who turned out to miss important stuff in a commercial lease review?

3 comments

3 Comments

kellygrant3h ago

Yo did your friend try to get the lawyer to cover the extra fees? I know someone who had a lawyer miss a renewal option in a lease and it cost them like 4 grand to get out of it early.

paige_robinson241h ago

Oh hell no, @kellygrant, that's exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about! Like, you pay these guys good money to not miss stuff and they still drop the ball. 4 grand is brutal though, that's like a whole month of driving for me just to cover someone else's mistake. Honestly, at that point I'd be asking the lawyer to cover it out of their own pocket or at least waive their fee for being useless. They messed up, not you, so why should you have to eat that cost?

phoenixk6432m ago

Call the lawyer directly and ask them to cover the $3k or at least refund your $1200. Most professional liability insurance policies cover this kind of oversight. I had a similar thing happen with a lease in Rogers Park - the lawyer missed a triple net clause that added $2k in taxes I wasn't expecting. I pushed back hard, sent them a copy of the missed clause with the page number highlighted, and they ended up cutting me a check for the full amount to avoid me filing a complaint with the state bar. Don't let them brush you off, get it in writing that you want them to make this right.