Legal Malpractice Archives - OAMIC: Legal Malpractice Insurance

PHIL’S CORNER: If LPL Is Important, Are Limits Also?

Phil’s Corner is a special column from OAMIC’s President & CEO Phil Fraim that is sent in our e-newsletter each month.Most of the good, conscientious lawyers I know support the idea of the importance of lawyers professional liability insurance (LPL) and would not think of practicing without it. This is not because they think they are prone to mistakes, don’t know the law or are inexperienced. The fact is, they fight against the same mental impediment to effective risk [...]

PHIL’S CORNER: Business Interruption Coverage – The Battle Royale

Phil’s Corner is a special column from OAMIC’s President & CEO Phil Fraim that is sent in our e-newsletter each month.When “sheltering-in” first began, I wondered how long it would take for questions to arise about whether COVID-19 triggered Business Interruption (B.I.) coverage within property policies. It didn’t take too long before lawsuits were filed and some of them were actually filed before a claim was presented, let alone a denial received. I fielded a few questions about OAMIC’s policy and whether any [...]

Why An Effective Calendaring System is Important

Personal injury/property damage – plaintiff is the area of law with the most frequent legal malpractice lawsuits. Approximately 30% of the cases received in the past decade are personal injury/property damage-plaintiff cases.These cases include but are not limited to, product liability, medical malpractice and accident collisions. The most common types of errors usually result in a missed deadline. These errors include: Failure to know or ascertain deadline correctly, failure to react to calendar, failure to calendar properly and procrastination [...]

PHIL’S CORNER: Explaining Gaps in Coverage + Prior Acts

Phil’s Corner is a special column from OAMIC’s President & CEO Phil Fraim that is sent in our e-newsletter each month.Hopefully all of you are more aware of coverage nuances within the claims-made policy forms from past articles and video information in the Resources section of our website. As mentioned before, there are no big downsides to a claims-made form as long as continuity of coverage is maintained and gaps in coverage are avoided. Remember, within the scope of [...]

Collection + Bankruptcy Errors: What You Need To Know

As consumer debt increases, so does the demand for collection and bankruptcy legal services. According to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) 2020 annual report, “the volume of new debt placed in the litigation channel has increased significantly.” This indicates a growing market for collection and bankruptcy lawyers. It may be tempting for an attorney to increase profitability by handling a large volume of these cases, but this obviously comes with increased risk of a legal malpractice lawsuit [...]

How To Exercise Proper Due Diligence Before Closing the Doors to Your Law Practice

Walking away from a law practice is not as easy as turning off the lights and locking the door. It takes a bit of planning. The more organized your office is, the simpler those steps will be. If you already have a procedure to produce a list of client names and contact information for all open files, an up-to-date calendaring system with all deadlines and follow up dates, current billing records, etc., then locking the office door will be [...]

Common Estate, Trust & Probate Errors + Tips for Managing Your Risk

Estate, trust and probate law is an area of practice concerned with the management and transfer of wealth. This is usually handled by using a variety of legal instruments such as but not limited to wills and trusts. Claims originating from this area have been rising and are expected to continue to rise as baby boomers transfer their wealth. The frequency of claims in this area of law is high; however, 70% of these claims usually close out with [...]

COVID-19 Pandemic Brings Questions About Business Interruption / Loss of Income Coverage to Forefront

In the last couple of days, you have likely thought more about business interruption (BI)/loss of income coverage than ever before. It is often viewed as one of those “it can’t happen to me” coverages. Thankfully, compared to many other businesses and professions, lawyers can work from most anywhere. But, if the clients won’t come in, depos are cancelled or courts are closed, your earnings could still be impacted. So, the first thing you might wonder is what OAMIC might [...]

PHIL’S CORNER: Communicating With Us During COVID-19

Phil’s Corner is a special column from OAMIC’s President & CEO Phil Fraim that is sent in our e-newsletter each month.As you know, COVID-19 has become more of a disruption in our state than we thought it might a week or so ago. This is a challenging time, and we know that the health and welfare of your attorneys, staff and clients are your top priorities right now. As insurers, business continuity is of the utmost importance to us and [...]

Real Estate Transaction Errors: What You Need to Know

Even the best attorneys make mistakes, but not all mistakes made by attorneys qualify as legal malpractice. According to the American Bar Association (ABA), 4 out of 5 lawyers will get sued for malpractice in their legal career. The likelihood of being sued is greater for real estate attorneys, as it is one of the high frequency areas of practice. There are many mistakes that can be made during a real estate transaction, such as errors in preparing a deed [...]

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