Actions of contract or tort for malpractice, error or mistake against attorneys . The plaintiff need not know the extent of the injury or know that the defendant was negligent for the cause of action to accrue. Once a client or former client knows or reasonably should know that he or she has sustained appreciable harm as a result of the lawyer's conduct, the statute of limitations starts to run. See Massachusetts Elec. If it were otherwise, total understanding of the causal connection would be necessary to accrual of the cause of action and the limitations period would almost never run.
Statutes of limitation are 'vital to the welfare of society . . . .
They promote repose by giving security and stability to human affairs' . . . Applying the legal principles discussed above to the facts of this case, we conclude that the plaintiff's action comes too late. There were several points, well before her action against her ex-husband's estate failed, when the plaintiff knew or reasonably should have known that the defendant had caused her harm. Perhaps the first was the defendant's sudden refusal to continue representing her. See also Mass.