This issue comes up fairly frequently and almost all of the courts which have considered it have answered it the exact same way. An owner of a unit of a condominium does not have standing to sue the attorney for the condominium association. The lawyer for the association is responsible…
The case is an important one for lawyers who are faced with an ethical issue. The New York Appellate Division held that the attorneys may communicate with their law firm’s general counsel to seek ethical advice and those communications are privileged and are not subject to discovery. In Stock, the…
Source: OAKLAND POLICE AND FIRE RETIREMENT SYSTEM v. MAYER BROWN, LLP, Dist. Court, ND Illinois 2016 – Google Scholar This is a legal malpractice case that was dismissed because the plaintiff was not a client of Mayer Brown, LLP, a noted Chicago law firm. The plaintiff was part of a…
A limited representation agreement is an agreement where a lawyer agrees to undertake some services for a client, but does not agree to handle the client’s entire case. One example of a limited representation agreement is where a lawyer agrees to help a pro se litigant by writing briefs or…
Source: GOESEL v. BOLEY INTERNATIONAL (HK) LTD., Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit 2015 – Google Scholar This case concerns an appeal by a law firm of a decision by the district court to reduce a contingent fee award. The parties agreed to a contingent fee under which the lawyers would…
A legal malpractice case requires careful analysis. Even if the lawyer was negligent in some way, did the negligence make any difference in the ultimate outcome? To evaluate a legal malpractice case, you must evaluate the underlying case as well. Rodi v. Horstman, 2015 IL App (1st) 142787 is such…
Beery v. Chandler, Dist. Court, ED Missouri 2015 – Google Scholar. Plaintiff sued his former personal injury lawyer for legal malpractice, alleging that the lawyer negligently advised him to reject a settlement offer. The lawyer sued for legal fees under breach of contract, quantum meruit and unjust enrichment theories. Plaintiff…
Scott v. Burgin, DC: Court of Appeals 2014 – Google Scholar. The issue of privity frequently arises in legal malpractice litigation. A party lacks privity when the party did not have an attorney-client relationship with the lawyer. Recently, the privity rule has been relaxed by courts to allow lawsuits for…
CRIMSON TRACE CORPORATION v. DAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE LLP, 355 Or. 476 – Or: Supreme Court 2014 – Google Scholar. This is an important issue in legal malpractice litigation – what happens to the communications between lawyers in a law firm and their in-house counsel. In this case the Oregon Supreme…
You are an employee of a corporation. Something bad happens and the corporation’s internal lawyer (or an outside lawyer) tells you he wants to talk to you. When the interview starts, he tells you that he does not represent you, he only represents the corporation. You don’t think about the…