Every area of law has the potential for malpractice claims. However, there are a few areas that tend to see higher numbers than others.
According to the Expert Institute, real estate, business transactions, trusts and estates, and corporate and securities are the four areas that see the most malpractice claims.
Document errors
One of the main reasons for claims in these practice areas is document errors. All four areas of law involve a lot of work with business documents, which ties them together and helps make sense of why they are the top four areas. Mistakes can happen easily, especially with the complex business documents required in these legal situations.
Fiduciary duty breaches
Another connection all of these areas of law have is that you will typically have some fiduciary duty when acting as the attorney. It is not surprising then that one of the top reasons for malpractice claims is a breach of fiduciary duty. While completely preventable, it is more prevalent in these specific areas of law.
Conflict of interest
The business world is rather small. It is simple to make a mistake and end up with a conflict of interest. You can say the same thing for real estate. In all of these areas of law, it is easy to not recognize a conflict and have it result in a malpractice claim.
Inadequate representation
Inadequate representation is not unique to these areas of law, but it may happen more often in the areas that have complex cases, which is true for real estate, business transactions, trusts and estates, and corporate and securities. You must make sure before taking a case that you have the legal background and knowledge necessary to handle every aspect of the case.