legal question. anyone know or know how to find out?

[nikegurl]

Does anyone know if a large legal firm can operate without malpractice insurance? I'm not talking about a single attorney hanging a shingle but a very large firm in a major city.

Can you think of a way for me to find out? Not sure what to look under on the internet.

Thanks for any insight/ideas!

 

[butterfly]

I think they'd be foolish not to but I don't know of any laws that require them to.

I bet TP would know...

 

[BabsieGirl]

go here. A team of attorney's chat in here.

http://www.hg.org/cgi-bin/redir.cgi...rs.com/lawyers-com/executable/ask/default.asp

 

[nikegurl]

thank you ladies!

 

[HyDr8]

If the firm is large enough, they could be self-insured.

 

[Twin Peak]

Originally posted by HyDr8
If the firm is large enough, they could be self-insured.

Unlikely.

We have malpractice insurance, and have nearly 1000 attorneys worldwide. And are one of the 40 largest firms in the world.

I doubt any attorney, solo or firm would not have it. Why do you need to know?

 

[ZECH]

The City of Charlotte is self insured.

 

[Twin Peak]

Originally posted by dg806
The City of Charlotte is self insured.

That has a lot to do with large law firms.

 

[butterfly]

Originally posted by dg806
The City of Charlotte is self insured.

Plus if you sue a city there are usually caps on how much you can actually collect if you win.

 

[Twin Peak]

Sometimes. But I am defending a city now, through its insurer.

Usually you can't get punative damages either.

 

[nikegurl]

thanks TP. very long story. i'll try to condense.

i large law firm in LA (think plush) was representing my bf's family in a wrongful death suit.

they missed 2 filing deadlines and continued to tell the family that the day in court was coming blah blah blah.

several years elapsed. family got ducked whenever they called the lawyer and finally demanded a meeting. at the meeting they were told that the necessary papers weren't filed and case was dead in the water.

family secured another lawyer who reviewed all the facts and decided it was a fairly clear case of legal malpractice that would probably settle out of court.

papers were filed against the original lawfirm in january.

many delays have happened since. the latest bombshell this week was that the firm being sued didn't have malpractice insurance at the time they were handling the original case (so they claim)

just sounded screwy to me. worst part - the family has been going through this for 6 years and 4 months now. there's always a date that it should settle or go to court and then the date comes and goes...

the not having malpractice insurance sounded crazy to me....

thanks again

 

[Twin Peak]

Not sure why it matters whether or not they had it, if they are as large as you say, the shoudl be able to absorb a $5-10 million verdict.

 

[nikegurl]

phhewww. that's what i said. then i realized i should shuttup 'cause i didn't actually know. i figured it's just a matter of where they money would come from (if it comes)

thanks again