Attorney Professional Liability: Terminating Client Relationships
Terminating a client relationship is not something that is taken lightly in the legal community. The people who seek out a lawyer typically have a lot at stake, either financially, emotionally or both. Thus, terminating a relationship without any grounds to do so could certainly lead to an Attorney Professional Liability claim for your legal client.
Despite this, your legal client may still withdraw from a case in certain circumstances. For example if your client is violating the law or the rules of professional conduct by representing a particular person or company, they not only should withdraw from the case, they must. Other instances where they must withdraw are if the attorney is physically or mentally incapable of representing that particular client in anyway, or if the client wishes to terminate the relationship with the attorney.
In addition to the above mentioned reasons, there are other legitimate reasons a lawyer may withdraw from a case, as long as the client’s interests won’t be adversely affected. Lawyers.com offers the following advice regarding when an attorney could pull out of a case.
Adversary Conflict of Interest. Is your client representing someone whose firm is an adversary to another company or person they represent? This is considered a conflict of interest, and if the attorney cannot obtain a conflict waiver form each party acknowledging the conflict and allowing the attorney to continue to represent both, the attorney may withdraw.
Differing Case Approaches. It’s not that rare for a lawyer and their client to have different strategies to approaching a case. However, if the attorney and their client cannot reach an agreement, typically the attorney should withdraw.
A Client’s Faliure to Cooperate. As an attorney, your client has an obligation to those that he represents; to provide quality service to them. This means there needs to be regular communication and interaction between the attorney and client. The attorney might need their client to answer questions or provide documentation, for example. For this reason there must always be open communication.
These are just a few of the legitimate reasons in which an attorney may withdraw from a case. PLRisk Advisors is a leading wholesale insurance brokerage covering the professional liability market. We understand the unique Attorney Professional Liability Risks your clients face, and our team of seasoned professionals has the depth of knowledge to help our agency partners secure the best quality of coverage for their clients. We provide Professional Liability insurance products for a number of professionals. For more information, contact us at (855) 403-5982.
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