Lawyers Professional Liability Claims

Overview of the Committee’s Focus:

Lawyers are not immune from the reach of errors and omissions lawsuits alleging criticism in both litigation and transactional contexts. Legal malpractice claims against attorneys may allege that counsel breached the standard of care applicable to attorneys similarly situated in various contexts including, for example:

• Advice Quality/Accuracy

• Advocacy Strategy

• Conflict of Interest Recognition

• File Attentiveness

• Drafting Preparation

• Investigation Comprehensiveness

• Trial Preparation/Strategy

• Settlement Recommendations

• Deadline Management

• Transactional Planning

The members of this Professional Liability Defense Federation™ committee share expertise in the proper management of, and response to, these claims. Issues addressed may include, for example, generalist/specialist distinction significance, fee counterclaim considerations, expert recruitment, e-discovery challenges, and jury presentation strategies that address perceptions of lawyers in general.

Other dimensions of the committee’s interest include third-party exposure, damage control responses, attorney-client relationship allegation challenges, "case within a case” advocacy, client engagement letter (scope of representation) importance, limitations statute triggers, client comparative fault situations, and proximate cause challenges.

Committee members are asked to contribute to article publication, to monitor the PLDF news and respond to member inquiries for assistance, and to assist in annual meeting seminar presentation planning.