ABA Committee Issues Survey of Legal Malpractice Claims
CHICAGO, August 23, 2005 – The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability today released data on a cross-section of legal malpractice claims during the period of 2000 – 2003. “Profile of Legal Malpractice Claims” seeks to help lawyers reduce malpractice behavior by providing a “snapshot” of malpractice claim activity. The committee surveyed insurers that provide legal malpractice insurance about the number and type of legal malpractice claims received.
The report has not been approved by the ABA’s policy-making House of Delegates, and its recommendations do not represent official policy of the association unless otherwise stated in the report.
The committee performed similar studies in 1985, 1995 and 1999. These surveys are not comprehensive reviews of all malpractice claims against all lawyers during a given period. They rely on self-reporting from insurers that provide legal malpractice insurance, and only measure claims received by participating insurers. The pool of insurers that reported data for the period 2000-2003 is not the same as that which reported during previous periods. As a result, comparisons of data between periods are not reliable indicators of legal malpractice trends.
The report shows how many claims participating insurers received from lawyers working in various practice areas and firm sizes. Of these claims, it also quantifies the types of activities lawyers performed on behalf of clients and the types of errors clients said that lawyers made. In addition, the report enumerates how claims made to participating insurers were resolved and how much insurers paid in expenses and settlements related to these claims.
By providing information on malpractice claims from a cross-section of insurers, the survey gives lawyers and law firms a tool to identify and reduce undesirable activities and practices that could result in malpractice claims. The full report is available for $60 through the ABA Store at www.ababooks.org or by calling 800/285-2221. Please reference product code #4140041.
The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability studies the professional liability of lawyers and the availability, extent and cost of liability insurance. The committee also works with local bar associations to develop programs to reduce behavior that could lead to malpractice claims.
With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law in a democratic society.
