Coscia

In Wiley v. County of San Diego (1998) 19 Cal.4th 532 [ 79 Cal.Rptr.2d 672 , 966 P.2d 983 ], this court held that when a former criminal defendant sues his or her attorney for legal malpractice, the former client’s actual innocence of the underlying criminal charges is a necessary element of the malpractice cause of action. We granted review in this matter to address a distinct, but related, question—whether a former criminal defendant must obtain exoneration by postconviction relief as a prerequisite to obtaining relief for legal malpractice. As we shall explain, we conclude that postconviction exoneration is a prerequisite to prevailing on a legal malpractice claim in this context.

I

In October 1993, plaintiff Nicholas F. Coscia, an attorney, was indicted by the federal government for securities fraud and related offenses. He retained defendants McKenna & Cuneo, L.L.P., and Juanita R. Brooks (hereafter sometimes McKenna & Cuneo) to represent him.

In December 1994, Coscia pleaded guilty in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada to one felony count of conspiracy to violate federal securities laws. He admitted his guilt under oath and confirmed that…