Biglaw

It's A 'Perfect Storm' For Attorney Malpractice Claims

The industry is seeing a rise in high-value malpractice claims.

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The large international firms are doing work at a crazy level, especially on the transactional side. Combine that with the effects of COVID, with eight to 10 attorneys on the same deal not being in same room. You’ve got overworked lawyers going from 2,400 hours now to 2,800 or 3,000. Combine all these factors together and it’s a perfect storm.

— Hinshaw & Culbertson partner Matthew Henderson told law.com some of the factors behind a rise in attorney malpractice claims, particularly in transactional work. He also described an erosion of factors that, historically made corporate clients hesitant to file lawsuits against their attorneys, opting instead to resolve issues through fee credits or other solutions that were appealing to institutional clients. But now Henderson says, “Large law firms are handling matters for startup companies, fintech companies, and some of these more cutting-edge businesses that don’t necessarily have the same sort of corporate governance that a public corporation would. Those make for dangerous clients, as they often have some unrealistic expectations. These companies aren’t exhibiting a reluctance to sue. They don’t have those long-term relationships.”

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