[PDF] When Lawyers Screw Up eBook

Author : Leslie C. Levin
Publisher :
Page : 26 pages
File Size : 23,41 MB
Release : 2019
Category :
ISBN :

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This essay reviews Herbert Kritzer and Neil Vidmar's book, When Lawyers Screw Up: Improving Access To Justice For Legal Malpractice Victims, which examines legal malpractice in the United States including, inter alia, its prevalence, the nature of claims, their resolution and cost, the market for legal malpractice insurance, and the challenges and economics of legal malpractice litigation. The essay focuses particular attention on the authors' findings that many individuals are unable to obtain redress when their lawyers cause them harm. This is due, in part, to the difficulty of proving lawyer malpractice claims, and to the fact that the vast majority of U.S. jurisdictions do not require lawyers to carry malpractice insurance. As a result, it is virtually impossible for a malpractice victim to find a lawyer who will bring a lawsuit against an uninsured lawyer or to recover damages even when they are awarded. The essay considers why only two states require lawyers to maintain malpractice insurance. The answer reveals a common problem with lawyer regulation, which is that courts often defer to lawyers' interests rather than promote the interests of the public. The essay discusses some of the solutions the authors propose to address this access to justice problem. It also suggests some additional ways to increase access to justice for victims of lawyer malpractice, including through an expanded role for lawyer discipline systems.

Author : Herbert Kritzer
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 36,74 MB
Release : 2018-03-15
Category : Law
ISBN : 0700625852

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Unhappy clients bring thousands of legal malpractice claims every year, against mega law firms and solo practitioners, for simple errors or egregious misconduct, and for losses than can reach $100 million or more. This in an industry, legal services, generating nearly $300 billion a year in revenue and touching every facet of American society. Yet, scant if any scholarly attention has been paid to the questions and consequences of lawyers' professional liability. This book is the first to fully explore the mistakes lawyers sometimes make, the nature of these mistakes, the harm they do, and the significant disparities in outcomes for corporate and individual victims of lawyers' errors. A systematic, empirical study of legal malpractice, When Lawyers Screw Up employs both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the frequency and nature of claims, the area of practice producing them, the amounts at stake, and the resolutions. The authors also use a range of data sources to study the frequency and outcomes of legal malpractice trials, whether bench or jury. Their comparison of legal malpractice cases involving the corporate and personal service sectors reveal the difficulties confronting claims coming from the personal sector—difficulties that often deny victims redress, even when they have suffered significant harm. When Lawyers Screw Up draws on a series of interviews to describe the practices of lawyers with expertise in handling legal malpractice claims, even as it notes how few such experts are available to prosecute these claims. In light of their findings, the authors suggest a range of reforms that would help victims of legal malpractice, particularly individuals and small businesses, in pursuing their claims.

Author : Ralph Nader
Publisher : Random House
Page : 461 pages
File Size : 21,2 MB
Release : 1998-12-22
Category : Law
ISBN : 0375752587

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The legal rights of Americans are threatened as never before. In No Contest, Ralph Nader and Wesley J. Smith reveal how power lawyers--Kenneth Starr perhaps the most notorious among them--misuse and manipulate the law at the expense of fairness and equity. Nader and Smith document how corporate lawyers File baseless lawsuits Use court secrecy to their unfair advantage Engage in billing fraud Nader and Smith sound the warning that this system-wide abuse is eroding our basic legal rights, and propose a positive, commonsense vision of what should be done to reverse the corporate-inspired corruption of civil justice. Timely, incisive, and highly readable, this is a book for all citizens who believe that prompt access to justice is the backbone of democracy, and a precious right to be reclaimed.

Author : Keith Evans
Publisher : The Capitol Net Inc
Page : 197 pages
File Size : 43,73 MB
Release : 2010-03
Category : Law
ISBN : 1587331853

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"Reading this book would profit any advocate of any experience level. Judicious application of the advice contained in the book will make anyone a better advocate."-- Bob Dekle, Legal Skills Professor, University of Florida, and retired assistant state attorney.

Author : Clifford Winston
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 121 pages
File Size : 42,61 MB
Release : 2011-08-01
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0815721919

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Not many Americans think of the legal profession as a monopoly, but it is. Abraham Lincoln, who practiced law for nearly twenty-five years, would likely not have been allowed to practice today. Without a law degree from an American Bar Association–sanctioned institution, a would-be lawyer is allowed to practice law in only a few states. ABA regulations also prevent even licensed lawyers who work for firms that are not owned and managed by lawyers from providing legal services. At the same time, a slate of government policies has increased the demand for lawyers' services. Basic economics suggests that those entry barriers and restrictions combined with government-induced demand for lawyers will continue to drive the price of legal services even higher. Clifford Winston, Robert Crandall, and Vikram Maheshri argue that these increased costs cannot be economically justified. They create significant social costs, hamper innovation, misallocate the nation's labor resources, and create socially perverse incentives. In the end, attorneys support inefficient policies that preserve and enhance their own wealth, to the detriment of the general population. To fix this situation, the authors propose a novel solution: deregulation of the legal profession. Lowering the barriers to entry will force lawyers to compete more intensely with each other and to face competition from nonlawyers and firms that are not owned and managed by lawyers. The book provides a much-needed analysis of why legal costs are so high and how they can be reduced without sacrificing the quality of legal services.

Author : American Bar Association. House of Delegates
Publisher : American Bar Association
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 41,21 MB
Release : 2007
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781590318737

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The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

Author : Michael S. Ariens
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 50,87 MB
Release : 2023-07-21
Category : Law
ISBN : 0700633839

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In 1776, Thomas Paine declared the end of royal rule in the United States. Instead, “law is king,” for the people rule themselves. Paine’s declaration is the dominant American understanding of how political power is exercised. In making law king, American lawyers became integral to the exercise of political power, so integral to law that legal ethics philosopher David Luban concluded, “lawyers are the law.” American lawyers have defended the exercise of this power from the Revolution to the present by arguing their work is channeled by the profession’s standards of ethical behavior. Those standards demand that lawyers serve the public interest and the interests of their paying clients before themselves. The duties owed both to the public and to clients meant lawyers were in the marketplace selling their services, but not of the marketplace. This is the story of power and the limits of ethical constraints to ensure such power is properly wielded. The Lawyer’s Conscience is the first book examining the history of American lawyer ethics, ranging from the mid-eighteenth century to the “professionalism” crisis facing lawyers today.

Author : Donald E. DeKieffer
Publisher :
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 37,5 MB
Release : 1995
Category : Lawyers
ISBN : 9781569800553

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An indictment of the practice of gross billable hours among lawyers, which encourages them to accumulate as much hours as possible on a case, penalizing efficiency and competence, offers ideas for protecting oneself against it. IP.

Author : Alison Green
Publisher : Ballantine Books
Page : 306 pages
File Size : 30,52 MB
Release : 2018-05-01
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0399181822

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From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together

Author : Donna Ballman
Publisher : Red Wheel/Weiser
Page : 223 pages
File Size : 13,17 MB
Release : 2012-09-21
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 1601635648

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Take a deep breath and learn how to deal with a bad work situation: “Like having an employment attorney on call. . . . It’s exactly what employees need.” —Alison Green, author of Ask A Manager USA Best Book Award Winner Hate your job? Ready to quit? Facing a layoff before you even have a chance to quit? Is your boss is a flaming jerk? Think you might have a lawsuit? If any of these scenarios apply to you, you are facing a crucial career moment—and mistakes and misinformation will cost you dearly. In Stand Up for Yourself Without Getting Fired, celebrated attorney Donna Ballman provides winning answers to these and many more tough questions, such as: I think they’re getting ready to lay me off. What can I do? My boss is creating a hostile environment. Can I sue? What does it mean if I sign a paper saying I’m an independent contractor and not an employee? Am I exempt from overtime? Whether you’re a recent college grad or an almost-retiree, newly employed or laid off after twenty years; gay or straight; single or married with kids; janitor or CEO . . . Stand Up for Yourself Without Getting Fired will give you the specific and relevant advice you need to face any career-threatening situation . . . and come out ahead.