Risk Management & Claims Prevention
Pitfalls of Judging Your Own Competency
It is not easy to know yourself. According to the Dunning-Kruger effect, a cognitive bias, less competent people think they are more competent than they actually are, and competent people think they are worse than they actually are. Consider the following three scenarios, in which you perform a task at different stages of your career… Read More »
Categories: Law Practice Management, Risk Management & Claims Prevention, Mentoring, CoachingBe aware of an invoice phishing attempt
A number of Ontario lawyers have reported receiving a phishing attempt that tried to entice the recipient to click on a link which likely will attempt to install malware or direct the user to a suspicious site. When hovering over the link, the site displayed is phenixsportsmensclub.com/intuit. The emails all have a number of similar… Read More »
Categories: Fraud Prevention, Risk Management & Claims PreventionArrests made in the U.S. of fraudsters involved in email impersonation scams
Here’s a rare bit of good news when it comes to fraud and cybercrime. Housingwire.com reports that several fraudsters have been arrested in the U.S.. The scams they are accused of running include hacking firm email accounts to redirect funds from real estate transactions to their own bank accounts. See Danger: When a Hacker Emails… Read More »
Categories: Fraud PreventionMalpractice claims regarding wills double in a decade
While wills and estates may never rival litigation or real estate as a risky practice area for lawyers, LAWPRO has seen the average annual number of wills claims double over the past 10 years. Growth in property values renders these errors more expensive and growing complexity in family structures, family law and tax law makes… Read More »
Categories: Biggest Claims Risks, Communication Errors, Wills & Estates, Areas of Law, Risk Management & Claims PreventionWills: Why you should send clients detailed reporting letters
While the will itself is the product of the collaboration between lawyer and client, the reporting letter serves a separate purpose: it’s the record of the context. To the extent that the reporting letter documents the process of crafting the will, it can bolster validity, shield the lawyer from malpractice allegation and demonstrate the value… Read More »
Categories: Communication Errors, Wills & Estates, Areas of Law, Risk Management & Claims PreventionThe new Fraud Fact Sheet for Cybercrime and Bad Cheque Scams
There has been a huge growth in cybercrime attempts against lawyers and firms, who must now be on guard against bad cheque frauds, phishing, funds transfer frauds and attempts to hack firm information. We have published a new 4-page Cybercrime and Bad Cheque Scams Fraud Fact Sheet (PDF) to help lawyers spot the red flags… Read More »
Categories: Fraud PreventionNew practicePRO resource: The immigration law malpractice claims fact sheet
The tenth in our series of “malpractice claims fact sheets” covers immigration law. The number of malpractice claims flowing from immigration matters, while not many, has been trending up in recent years. Lawyer/client miscommunications cause 42% of these claims. Immigration clients have a great deal at stake, and many pin their hopes on the efforts… Read More »
Categories: Biggest Claims Risks, Risk Management StrategiesLSO Resource Centre: Conflict of Interest When Acting Against a Former Client
The LSO’s March 2018 e-Bulletin Resources for Lawyers discusses situations where a conflict of interest can arise when acting against a former client. Here’s the discussion, reproduced in whole: Situations often arise where a lawyer is asked to act against a former client. In such cases, the lawyer must assess whether he or she is… Read More »
Categories: Conflicts of Interest