Legal Malpractice

In a Land where Malpractice Insurance Coverage is Published, You Must be Honest

By (Andrew Lavoott Bluestone)

From theLaw Profession Blog we report on this Arizona Disciplinary Case in which the exitence of attorney malpractice insurance was published.  The attorney was disciplined as we see in the order.

"An Arizona hearing officer has recommended the disbarment of an attorney for misconduct in several matters. The lawyer was no stranger to the bar discipline system. He had been the subject of two informal reprimands, censure with probation, and had been suspended in Decemeber 2008. Here, among other things, he responded to a lawsuit against him that alleged legal malpractice by falsely claiming that he had insurance coverage.

The hearing officer found that he had "violated his duty to the legal system by not being honest about his lack of legal malpractice insurance and by delaying the litigation....[t]he most serious misconduct involves the Respondent making false statements to the court." He also had failed to maintain accurate trust account records, refused to provide medical records authorizations to opposing counsel leading to the dismissal of a client's case, and obstructed court proceedings. (Mike Frisch
 

Full post as published by New York Attorney Malpractice Blog on April 10, 2009 (boomark / email).