What Risks Do Lawyers Face When Clients Keep Some Legal Tasks In-House Or Assign to Outside Vendors?

As the breakdown of complicated legal tasks among both expanded in-house departments and outside non-firm vendors becomes the new normal, law firms are at greater risk for malpractice and mismanagement claims.

ABA Journal business of law reporter Rachel M. Zahorsky discusses with Beazley’s Brant Weidner and solo practitioner and legal ethics professor John Steele the challenges of this trend for outside law firms and what lawyers can do to protect themselves and their clients when faced with the increased disaggregation of legal work.

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In This Podcast:

Rachel M. Zahorsky
John Steele is a solo practitioner in Palo Alto, Calif., representing lawyers, law firms, and other clients regarding legal ethics, risk management, and professional liability. For over 15 years, he served as the chief internal ethics lawyer at an Am Law 100 and an Am Law 200 law firm. For about 30 semesters, he has taught legal ethics as an adjunct lecturer at Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley, Indiana University, Santa Clara University, and Golden Gate University. He was a member of the State Bar of California’s standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (2005-08), is a member of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility, and a member of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers.

Brant Weidner is a claims manager for the lawyers’ professional liability business at Beazley. He is also responsible for developing Beazley’s risk management program for the large lawyers’ line. Prior to joining Beazley in 2007, Weidner spent 16 years as a lawyer in private practice at a large Chicago firm. He also has almost five years experience in managing lawyers’ professional liability claims for an industry mutual which catered to large law firms.