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We know that when clients complain to law societies about lawyer conduct, those same clients are also likely to consider suing their lawyers, so paying attention to the kinds of issues that lead to client complaints is a good loss prevention tool. The recent blog post, Rude e-mails leading to complaints against lawyers by Jean Sorensen, posted July 13, 2001 on Legal Feeds Blog, outlines some of the common issues that arise when lawyers fail to use courtesy in their communications. The post also refers to a new service from the Law Society of British Columbia providing alerts to lawyers on issues that can lead to professional discipline. The takeaway from the first alert issued is this: You are unlikely to offend if you treat others as you would like them to treat you. The Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association provides loss prevention information solely for the benefit of CLIA insured lawyers. The content and links provided in Loss Prevention eBytes are intended as resources to qualified lawyers who should exercise due care and their professional judgment in adapting or making use of any content.
In Webb v. Birkett, 2011 ABCA 13, a client sued her lawyer in negligence, alleging a failure to “…provide her with proper and complete legal advice, with the result that she entered into an improvident matrimonial property settlement and waived her entitlement to spousal support.” The Alberta Court of Appeal decision confirms that no different standard of care applies to lawyers operating under a collaborative family law model. The Court sets out (at paragraphs 54-55) the standard required and concludes that: When the dust settles, and each of the parties moves on to live with the results of the settlement negotiated, hindsight can foster the stress and dissatisfaction the collaborative family law process aims to avoid, just as it did here. The parties are required to live with that dissatisfaction only where they had full information available to them – either as to their legal entitlements when they made a decision to take less or different benefits than those to which they were entitled, or, if they decided to waive receipt of full information, a full explanation of the risks and losses attendant upon so doing. The Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association provides loss prevention information solely for the benefit of CLIA insured lawyers. The content and links provided in Loss Prevention eBytes are intended as resources to qualified lawyers who should exercise due care and their professional judgment in adapting or making use of any content.
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