"AvoidAClaim" Blog

I am pleased to add The Ethical Quandary blog to the AvoidAClaim blogroll.

The Ethical Quandary features posts on legal ethics and litigation issues by Michael Downeyand several other Hinshaw Culbertson LLP lawyers.

This blog has great posts on legal, ethics, discipline, risk management, and related business and professional issues, albeit with a bit of U.S. focus sometimes.

Do you know where the greatest risks of a malpractice claim come from? More importantly—did you know there are simple steps you can take to reduce the risk of a claim being made against you?

The July/August issue of Law Practice Magazine is devoted to helping you avoid the dreaded allegation of legal malpractice, as well as other dangers to your law practice.

LAWPRO’s claims statistics indicate that four out of five lawyers will face at least one claim during the course of their careers. So the odds are you have already experienced a claim or two—and if not, you likely will. Let’s call this the bad news. What’s the good news? Many claims are preventable. The surprise for most lawyers—and the key take-away—is that failures to know or apply substantive law do not cause the majority of malpractice claims. The other significant causes of claims are task and deadline management errors, lawyer-client communications issues and conflicts of interest. I review the common errors in our cover story, and explain how improving basic law practice management skills can reduce your risk of a claim. The Web Extra has details of The Most Common Legal Malpractice Claims by Type of Alleged Error for US and Canadian claims.

Conflicts expert William Freivogel brings us up to date on conflicts risks, and Malcolm Mercer walks through the steps law firms can take to implement risk management strategies. Chris Stiegemeyer explains what underwriters look for (and don’t want to see) when reviewing malpractice insurance applications—and he has tips to help lower your premium.

In terms of unpleasant things, difficult clients probably rank slightly behind a malpractice claim for most lawyers. Justice Carole Curtis, who practiced family law for 30 years, discusses how to protect your practice and sanity when dealing with different types of difficult clients, while Sheila Blackford describes how to recognize them. A note of thanks to Sheila for her assistance in putting this issue together as well.

To reduce exposure to other risks, be sure to read Jim Calloway’s tips for recognizing bad cheque scams, along with David Ries’s explanation of new and expanding obligations to protect confidential client data. With all the foolishness happening on the Web, the issue would be incomplete without a discussion of online dangers. Michael Downey guides us through the online trouble spots, with invaluable advice on avoiding liability. It can be a dangerous world out there.

It was great to have the opportunity to spread the claims prevention gospel to Law Practice readers – and to share it further with Avoid A Claim readers – and I hope this issue of Law Practice helps you stay out of trouble.

Cross posted on Slaw.ca

I was pleased and honoured to see a profile of practicePRO and its claim prevention resources, including the AvoidAClaim blog, in the Summer issue of MAsses of Info, the e-newsletter of the Massachusetts LOMAP program.

The text of the article appears here:

LOMAPs Around the World!

We have, it appears, been very neglectful of giving our Canadian brothers and sisters their propers in this space. And, we proclaim this a “worldly” section . . . Well, it is time to right that injustice.

LOMAP-style services are available across North America, in the United States as well as Canada. (For a full listing, see here.) practicePRO, in Toronto, Ontario, provides risk management, claims prevention and law practice management information. The practicePRO website has a tremendous amount of information available. The inimitable Dan Pinnington is the director of practicePRO. Dan’s knowledge of legal risk management and legal technology both appear bottomless, and his skill-set flourishes well beyond those two categories. Dan’s “Avoid A Claim” blog is an excellent, and frequently updated, resource. In addition to Dan’s blog, you can also access the current and archived issues of LawPRO magazine. The practicePRO website should be one of your main stopping points for law practice management answers; but, if you do visit the website, set aside some time: there’s a lot see, eh. Oh, Canada, indeed.

Thanks for your kind words Jared.

While it is perhaps not so obvious to those that use practicePRO resources, I must return the compliments to my fellow practice advisors at the provincial law societies and state bar associations. As my peers they are a great source of information, ideas and inspiration. A full list of them is here.

Its halfway through 2010, and we’ve compiled the top 40 most downloaded practicePRO articles and resources. Many of the perenial favourites at still there, including many of our retainer precedents, budget spreadsheet, the ILA checklist, Peg Duncan’s ediscovery reading list and avoiding the dangers of metadata article).

There are some interesting new entries at the top though:

• We’re glad to see the our fraud information is being read, including the collaborative family law scam alert and the article on sophisticated new cheque frauds.
• There seems to be a craving for articles on smartphones! Essential Smartphone Apps has joined Blackberry 101 in the top 40.
• New in the top 40 are the Sitting on a Non-Profit Board and employee departure checklists
• Our webzine is generating a lot of traffic now too, as indicated by the popularity of Debra Rolph’s article on ironing out the wrinkles in the Limitations Act.

The full list, as well as the top downloads from previous years, can be found here.

Cross posted at Slaw.ca