A Primer on the Texas Bar Disciplinary System | Seana Willing | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Polsinelli Podcast - Avoiding Professional Liability
Last year, we reported on a California State Bar initiative to expunge attorney discipline records, other than disbarment, after eight years. See Legal Updates for Lawyers’ Professional Liability – February 2025. The proposed...more
Most of us have a process for closing out the old year and starting the new one. It’s natural to turn the page when starting a new year because it matches our biorhythms. Originally Published in The Daily Record - January...more
On Dec. 11th, the Superior Court released its long-awaited opinion in Poteat v. Asteak regarding the applicability of the gist of the action doctrine in legal malpractice matters, holding it does not apply and essentially...more
Insurers often rely on introductory phrases in exclusions, such as the phrase “relating to,” to expand the scope of exclusions beyond all reasonable bounds. The Eleventh Circuit recently reaffirmed that insurance exclusions —...more
For real estate practitioners, this might be the most important client alert you read this year. Imagine this scenario: you are a real estate closing attorney who has received the funds necessary to pay off a seller’s...more
It had to happen at some point: a lawyer would unsuspectingly submit a brief prepared with the help of generative artificial intelligence to a Maryland appellate court, and our courts would answer the question of what the...more
In today’s article, we examine Hofman v. Braun, 2025 N.Y. Slip Op. 34102(U) (Sup. Ct., N.Y. County Oct. 24, 2025) (here), a case addressing the statute of limitations for a breach of fiduciary duty claim and the continuous...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, applying Georgia law, has held that a single lawsuit constitutes multiple “claims” and some of those “claims” fell outside the misappropriation exclusion in a...more
The defense of legal malpractice claims often hinges on a deceptively simple question: did the attorney breach their duty owed to their client?...more
Over the past decade, there has been a substantial rise in the number of attorneys using litigation funding to help prosecute or defend a case. This area is largely unregulated in New York. While this new way of practicing...more
Hernandez v. Baird Mandalas Brockstedt & Federico, LLC, 2025 WL 1304194 (Del. May 6, 2025) - The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court’s dismissal of the plaintiffs’ legal malpractice claims under the collateral...more
Continuing the weekly blog posts about lawyers using AI and getting in trouble, the Massachusetts Office of Bar Counsel recently issued an article entitled “Two Years of Fake Cases and the Courts are Ratcheting Up the...more
A federal district court recently denied a law firm’s motion to dismiss a legal malpractice suit against it on statute of limitations grounds. Smash Franchise Partners, LLC v. Barber Power Law Grp., PLLC, 2025 WL 2598369...more
Malpractice claims against attorneys, and the severity of those claims, continue to rise. In fact, legal malpractice claims have been trending up for the last 15 years or so. Whether that’s due to economic factors, the sheer...more
Do in-house lawyers need their own malpractice insurance? Some might. If needed, the type of insurance in-house counsel should explore is called employed lawyers professional liability (ELPL) insurance. This insurance...more
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, applying Pennsylvania law, has held that the allegations against two attorneys named in a malpractice lawsuit constituted a single “claim” under a...more
In Smith Jadin Johnson PLLC v. Minnesota Lawyers Mutual Insurance Co., the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s decision that required Minnesota Lawyers Mutual Insurance Co. to defend a legal malpractice claim...more
The Johnson v. Dunn sanctions order proves that firm policies and experience aren’t enough—only rigorous verification prevents AI citation disasters...more
Key Points: While legal malpractice actions can be brought as a negligence or contract claim, the gist of the action doctrine serves to limit those instances....more
The United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, applying West Virginia law, has held that an insurer was entitled to rescind an insurance policy based on the insured’s misrepresentations regarding...more
We have previously outlined several cases where lawyers have been sanctioned by courts for citing fake cases generated by artificial intelligence (AI), also known as “hallucinations.”...more
A recent update to New Jersey’s Model Civil Jury Charges marks a significant development in legal malpractice law—and directly reflects the work of attorneys in our Mount Laurel, New Jersey office, Jack Slimm and Jeremy...more
The Minnesota Court of Appeals has held that a malpractice claim was “deemed made” against an insured law firm when it received from its former client’s new counsel a letter directing the law firm to preserve records related...more
Wire transfer fraud is on the rise, and attorneys are increasingly becoming prime targets for cybercriminals. With billions lost annually to fraudulent transactions, legal professionals who fail to implement robust...more
John H. Fisher and his P.C. represented a client in a medical malpractice action filed on February 15, 2019, alleging that the defendant medical providers failed to provide proper prenatal care to the client, causing the...more