“I
knew I shouldn’t have taken that case.” Unfortunately, this is the
statement we hear all too often when an insured attorney reports a
malpractice claim to ALPS. In light of that fact, this article will
encourage you to listen to your own judgment when determining
whether or not to take a case and emphasize the importance of
appropriate client selection and file opening procedures.
Hindsight offers the benefit of much clearer vision when reviewing a file. This is particularly true in legal malpractice cases. Appropriate client selection and file opening procedures are important risk management tools that you can incorporate into your law practice. Not only does this enhance work satisfaction, we believe that it can provide your clients...
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In
a previous column, we described some of what an underwriter does as
they try to find an appropriate match of risk and premium. Yes,
there is a science to underwriting – The Law of Large Numbers,
actuarial statistics, etc. But there’s also an art to it. We are
not Robo Underwriters who simply plug numbers into a formula, hit a
button and wait to see what premium is spit out. We have to
consider factors that are not quite as quantifiable. For example,
if a firm has claims, we would need to know more than just how many
claims. We look further to understand the severity and the
frequency of claims, the practice areas they fall under, the
attorneys involved and so on. Instead of just knowing what practice
area(s) an attorney specializes in,...
The
following is a guest blog post by 
Last week I
turned sixty-five and realized that I am not far off being eligible
for Social Security and Medicare. The problem is I don't feel old
enough to be eligible for either, and I have no desire to retire.
Sixty-five used to be the milestone that people kept in mind as the
date when they got the gold watch and started drawing their
retirement from their employers defined benefit pension. Very few
of those exist anymore and most of them have been turned over to
the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) as part of a
corporate chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Now for many of us it's
just another birthday with no meaning greater than any other. This
thought string got me thinking about lawyers and retirement
generally.
In
2011, ALPS formalized its commitment to education and risk
management with the advent of ALPS Educational Services (AES). With
over two decades of working in all phases of the professional
liability insurance industry — from underwriting to sales, to
marketing and education — there are real benefits ALPS brings to
our policyholders and the legal profession. Not only does ALPS
provide premier protection to its policyholders, but we have always
been committed to Continuing Legal Education and risk management
programs.
For
years my kids viewed me as not very tech savvy. I suspect that was
because I wasn’t a power gamer or perhaps they believed that
parental units just don’t get it. Over time however, I have found
it ironic that several of these now young adults occasionally call
home for instructional help and guidance with their laptops and
smart phones. One call of note occurred a few years ago and
concerned a laptop that was dying a painful death due an inordinate
number of nasty viruses and Trojans that had erased restore points
and data as well as turned over control of that laptop to someone
else. I was not able to help with this problem since we were
separated by several thousand miles at the time. My only advice was
to suggest that the time had...
Wow!
My second post here at ALPS411. I was thrilled to be invited back
and decided to follow up my last post on 
We’re
all taking advantage of it; in fact many of us say we couldn’t live
without it. We use technology throughout the day to help us stay in
touch and communicate. We can text, e-mail, Facebook and blog (like
I’m doing right now.) from just about any place with our
smartphones and laptops. When it comes to handling a busy practice,
the efficiency and convince this can create are indisputable.
However, it has changed our work pace and our work place and
perhaps not always for the better. Are you addicted to checking
your e-mail at all hours of the day and night? Can you unplug when
on vacation or a family outing? And what about the pace….do you
feel compelled to respond right away even though you may have been
working on another task or...
Guest
blog post by 
The
past few years have been a bit rough in terms of the economy and
there are few signs that things will dramatically improve anytime
soon. The national debt continues to rise and there are still way
too many who are unemployed or under employed. For those who went
into this downturn living paycheck to paycheck, the past few years
have been particularly hard. One lesson that can be taken from all
this is the following. There is value in planning ahead in order to
be financially prepared for the unexpected. So, how prepared are
you? Not surprisingly, I see the failure of an attorney to
appropriately plan ahead, not only as a financial misstep, but a
risk management concern as well.
A
typical law firm is not a place where everyone sits around all day
drinking coffee and catching up on the latest gossip. More often
than not, attorneys and staff are balancing several client matters
at any given time. I suspect many feel as if there is never enough
time because the workload simply seems to never have an end point.
One ramification of this reality can be that attention to certain
seemingly minor details goes by the wayside.
It's
hard to believe that ALPS has been around for twenty-four (24)
years as of this past March 1st. Over that time we have
amassed a lot of experience, mostly good and some not so good, but
on the whole it allowed us to become the best prepared Lawyers'
Professional Liability Insurer in the country to meet the needs of
lawyers in rural areas. During that time we've gotten very good at
defending lawyers when malpractice claims arise and to quote Kenny
Rogers, "We know when to hold-em and we know when to fold-em." I
don't mean to sound glib, but this experience has allowed us to
produce some of the highest quality live CLE events in the country
for our affiliated Bars and thousands of lawyers throughout the
country.
We
have all made referrals. For some, making a referral is almost a
daily occurrence. Lawyers often make referrals after work is
declined. Staff may make them in response to cold calls or to
clients who need a service that the firm doesn’t provide. Referrals
are sometimes made during dinner conversations, at social events,
or after a presentation made to the general public. We may pass
along a name to a family member, a friend, a colleague, and
especially good clients. After all, we do want to make sure our
good clients are well taken care of. Too often, however, referrals
seem to be made without any thought of the potential malpractice
exposure. Is such casualness justifiable? Unfortunately, the answer
may be no.
Guest
blog post by
Believe it or not, file
handoffs can lead to trouble if not properly managed. It
doesn’t matter if the handoff is from a partner to an associate,
from one firm to another post referral or purchase of a practice,
or is to a new firm or attorney after the current attorney’s
practice has ended due to death, disability, retirement, or
disciplinary action. There are concerns that should be
addressed with all of three situations. Why? Because an
attorney’s liability for a client file isn’t limited to the
decisions made or actions taken solely during the time he or she is
personally responsible for doing the work on that file.
Guest
blog post by 
Okay
so it's a bad paraphrase, but it makes a point. At some point in
life every lawyer realizes that the practice culture, practice
rules, client demands and expectations have changed drastically
from what they knew oh so may years ago, and for many not for the
better. I think this probably holds true for most lawyers who
entered the practice in the last century, but I suspect it applies
more for those of us that started practice just before the
beginning of the information age. Population growth and
concentration, inflation, speed of communication, ease of research
and economic expectations all played a role in the meteoric change.
The future of the practice of law belongs to the younger generation
of lawyers and they face a daunting and...
Guest
blog post by 
Love
My Smartphone: What’s not to love about a smartphone,
it’s a great tool for keeping up while on the go. And smartphones
aren’t just phones, they’re computers. The use of smart phones and
other mobile devices like iPads is pervasive, and lawyers too have
embraced these devices. But like all technology used by lawyers, we
have certain ethical duties that apply. State bars have
consistently held that the use of technology, such as e-mail,
cloud-computing and portable devices requires consideration of the
rules of professional responsibility addressing competency and
confidentiality. Specifically, layers using this technology should
be competent in understanding the technology (Rule 1.1
Competence) and how its use might impact the client...
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