Saturday, April 22, 2006

Sixty per cent of lawyers have malpractice insurance?

HR 6 from the 2006 regular session says this:

"WHEREAS, attorneys have ethical and legal obligations to their clients; and

WHEREAS, as the number of attorneys licensed in the Commonwealth increases, the number of legal malpractice cases will also undoubtedly increase and some statistics even indicate that the number of legal malpractice cases is increasing at a faster rate than the increase in the number of attorneys; and

WHEREAS, malpractice insurance is not required to practice law in Virginia; however, statistics show that approximately 60% of attorneys in the United States have some malpractice coverage; and

WHEREAS, many malpractice policies do not cover illegal activities such as fraud or theft, and in cases where an attorney does not have malpractice coverage at all, it is possible that the injured client has no remedy; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Virginia State Bar be encouraged to consider the problem of uninsured attorneys. The Supreme Court of Virginia and the Virginia State Bar shall further consider some form of mandatory insurance for attorneys or an uninsured attorneys’ fund for client/victim compensation for malpractice committed by uninsured attorneys in the Commonwealth."

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