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: Coaching, Law Practice Management, Mentoring, Risk Management & Claims PreventionBe 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: Areas of Law, Biggest Claims Risks, Communication Errors, Risk Management & Claims Prevention, Wills & EstatesThe 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 InterestBeware Phony DocuSign Phishing Scam
The Alberta Lawyers Insurance Association released this warning on March 5, 2018. The Alberta Lawyers Insurance Association (ALIA) has learned of a very convincing email scam that is trying to lure lawyers into giving away their passwords or installing malware by way of fake DocuSign requests. Lawyers have been receiving emails from a sender who… Read More »
Categories: Fraud Prevention, Risk Management & Claims Prevention