Lawyers' Professional Liability

Klehr Harrison’s professional liability practice group defends and advises legal professionals and law firms with discretion, precision and a pragmatic focus on the business of law. Our team defends law firms and lawyer clients against claims of legal malpractice, business torts, and wrongful use of civil proceedings. The group also provides counsel to lawyers and law firms on risk management, including proactive ways to avoid risk and compliance with ethical obligations. We are often retained before litigation to help evaluate and control exposure to potential claims, and our team understands the impact that the mere threat of a claim can have on a lawyer or firm and the stakes involved. With that in mind, we aggressively advocate and develop strategies to achieve the goals of our clients while controlling exposure. We also have extensive experience in guiding the management of law firms and law practices, as well as navigating lawyer departure issues and firm dissolution, break-up, and succession issues.

Services

• Legal malpractice claims.
• Business tort claims against lawyers or law firms.
• Risk management issues and proactive ways to avoid risk.
• Ethical rule compliance.
• Law firm dissolution, break-ups and succession planning.
• Claims for wrongful use of civil proceedings, Dragonetti Act, or malicious prosecution.

Representative Matters

• Representation of an Am Law 100 firm in connection with claims for legal malpractice arising from corporate and tax matters.
• Representation as private counsel to a leading plaintiffs’ law firm in defense of a legal malpractice claim arising from class action litigation.
• Representation of an Am Law 100 firm defending against claims for aiding and abetting fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.
• Representation of a leading plaintiffs’ law firm on matters related to succession planning and intra-partnership disputes.
• Representation of a former management member of a dissolved Am Law 100 firm in which we defeated a petition to vacate a favorable arbitration.
• Representation of a regional law firm in defense of arbitration of claims for legal malpractice and business torts.
• Representation of a senior attorney in connection with their departure from a law firm, including a dispute over the transition of the attorney’s clients and cases.
• Representation of a senior attorney in connection with compensation disputes with their former law firm.
• Representation of a leading plaintiffs’ firm in defending against a Dragonetti Act claim.