Malpractice is the legal term for negligent, improper or illegal actions or activities committed by a professional. A lawyer commits malpractice when he or she fails to provide quality legal services to a client. If the attorney, through an error or omission, fails to provide services that meet the minimum standard of care of a licensed attorney, then that lawyer has committed malpractice. That sounds like a complicated thing, but sometimes it is very simple – and very harmful to you.
It is important to remember, however, that just because you received a "bad" result from your former lawyer does not necessarily mean that the lawyer has committed malpractice. You may have received the "best" result possible under the circumstances of your particular matter. Malpractice does not mean that you simply did not get the case outcome you wanted – it is a failure of the attorney to use the correct standards of the practice during your claim, resulting in harm to you.