ABA Journal - Law News Now

Law Firms

Failed Corporate Deals Fuel Malpractice Suits Against Firms

Posted Mar 31, 2008, 03:04 pm CST
By Molly McDonough

Failed corporate deals are fueling malpractice and other deal-related claims that large law firms are finding increasingly difficult to fend off.

The National Law Journal reports that during the past few years, law firms including Mayer Brown, Clifford Chance and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld have faced some of the "most aggressive and expensive malpractice and fraud lawsuits," some seeking more than $100 million in damages.

An increasing number of the corporate deal-related suits are being filed by trustees overseeing a client's bankruptcy, the NLJ reports. Joining in are large investors, which are also targeting law firms.

"In many instances, law firms have been successful because these are claims being brought by third parties to whom the law firm doesn't owe any duty," says Gibson Dunn & Crutcher partner Kevin Rosen, who chairs his firm's legal malpractice defense practice group.

The NLJ details the big-dollar cases against large firms, including several that have been dismissed.

• Comments: 0
• E-mail / Share
• Permalink
• Print
• Reprint

Subscribe

Get the ABA Journal the way you want it — in print, online, by e-mail — and when you want it — monthly, weekly, daily or as news breaks.

Subscribe via RSS
Subscribe to the mobile edition
Subscribe to the monthly magazine