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AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION

STANDING COMMITTEE ON LAWYERS' PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY

INFORMATIONAL REPORT TO THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES

The Standing Committee on Lawyers' Professional Liability (the “Committee”) seeks to: identify the causes of malpractice claims; provide resources to the legal profession and the insurance industry on developments in the legal malpractice field; design and encourage the implementation of malpractice prevention programs; educate the insurance industry and the legal profession about the relationship between the operational aspects of law practice and the underwriting of legal malpractice insurance; and encourage a responsible approach to increasing the availability of malpractice insurance at the state and local bar level.

The Committee sponsors two National Legal Malpractice Conferences each year. The Spring 2011 Conference in Boston, MA had 570 registrants. Adam Liptak, of the New York Times and Jeffrey Toobin, CNN commentator and writer for The New Yorker, opened the conference with a program examining the current and future state of the profession from the perspective of journalists. Conference sessions included: the anatomy of an estate planning case; exploration of legal malpractice defenses; the role of independent counsel; and the intersection of legal malpractice charges with criminal indictments amongst others. All of the LPL Committee conferences are co-sponsored by TIPS, LPM, and CPR and feature roundtables conducted by the Business Law Section Firm Counsel Project.

The Committee also awarded the 2011 Levit Essay Prize to Alexandra Newman, Chicago, IL. The Contest topic features an aspect of lawyer professional liability and is only open to Young Lawyer and Law Student Division members, and offers a cash prize of $5,000, which is provided by the San Francisco firm of Long & Levit LLP.

The Committee produced a teleconference on “Applying for Legal Malpractice Insurance: A Practical Guide to Controlling Cost”, in May, 2011. Panelists discussed underwriting criteria and how attorneys can control many of these elements and influence an underwriter’s decision on whether to insure and at what price.

The Committee continues to monitor the legal malpractice insurance market. A subcommittee monitors the general availability of professional liability insurance. Additionally, the Committee conducts its annual meeting of state bar liability chairpersons in conjunction with each Spring National Legal Malpractice Conference.

The Committee has produced a working draft of materials on the availability of legal malpractice insurance for pro bono work. This project’s information will be posted on the LPL Committee website and on our project partner’s web site, the ABA Center for Pro Bono.

Many lawyers have questions about legal malpractice insurance: how it works, where it can be purchased, and how they can be sure they receive the coverage they need at a commercially feasible cost. Therefore, the Committee sponsors the Legal Malpractice Insurance Hotline, a web and telephone assistance service. The Committee has posted a set of FAQ’s on its webpage to assist individuals with general lawyer professional liability insurance questions. Additionally, callers may receive information on where they can obtain legal malpractice insurance for their particular needs; what they need to know before they choose a legal malpractice insurance company; and what to be aware of when they read a legal malpractice insurance policy. For the web based assistance, the Committee offers an annually updated directory which includes information on insurers on a state-by-state basis, articles on various aspects of legal malpractice insurance, an analysis of key components of insurance policies, and a checklist for selecting legal malpractice policies.

The Committee conducts the only national data collection study of the incidence of legal malpractice claims. The Committee continues to market its most recent study, Profile of Legal Malpractice Claims: 2004-2007, which is still widely disseminated within the insurance industry and the profession, and serves as a resource for discussion of marketplace trends and for design of loss prevention programs. Planning is now underway for the next edition of the publication which will cover legal malpractice claims for the period 2008-2011.

The Lawyers’ Professional Liability Consortium (LPLC) is a project sponsored by the Committee that brings together leaders in the legal malpractice field, including lawyers, law firms, insurance company executives, underwriters, brokers, and agents. As of this report date the LPLC had the following subscribers: 89 individual and 175 organizational entities. Individual subscribers receive a non-transferable benefit of free attendance at each of the two conferences and organizational members receive a benefit of two attendees per each conference from the same corporate or law firm entity.

The Committee continues its eMembership feature for subscribers to the LPLC. This subscription site features newsflash items, a compendium of professional liability knowledge and insurance-specific information, links and two electronic newsletters – the monthly LPL eAdvisory and the LPL eAdvisory NewsFlash. Currently there are 91

e-member subscribers in addition to those who receive information because of their individual or organizational membership.

Respectfully submitted,

George Kryder, Chair

August 2011

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