Legal Malpractice

Does The Public Want [Need} to Know about Legal Malpractice?

By (Andrew Lavoott Bluestone)

In this article from Law.Com a question in Texas mirrors similar issues in California, Nevada and Ohio.  In the recent past there have been surveys, bar association meetings, proposed legislation and other indicia of interest in either mandatory legal malpractice insurance or required insurance disclosure to clients.  As of now, no rippling in New York on the question of whether an attorney has legal malpractice insurance, and no easy-practical way of finding out short of starting a law suit.

"While Texas lawyers aren't keen on having a rule that would require them to disclose whether they carry legal malpractice insurance, the public favors such a requirement, recent surveys conducted by the State Bar of Texas show.

In an early April telephone survey of 500 Texas residents, 70 percent of the respondents said lawyers should be required to inform potential clients whether the lawyers carry, or do not carry, professional liability insurance that could cover the costs of claims arising out of their law practice.

In contrast, only about 23 percent of the 6,160 attorneys who responded to the State Bar's online survey in February and 29 percent of the 500 attorneys contacted in a telephone survey in early April favored an insurance-disclosure rule. "

A 13-member task force appointed by State Bar President Gib Walton in the fall of 2007 is reviewing the survey results as well as data collected from other states that require lawyers to disclose their insurance status. David Beck, the task force's chairman, says he is hopeful the task force will vote on whether to recommend a disclosure rule during a May 21 meeting in Houston.

Full post as published by New York Attorney Malpractice Blog on May 09, 2008 (boomark / email).