Founding Partner
When interviewing an attorney to represent you, whether it be for a personal injury case, trucking accident, high stakes business litigation, malpractice claim, probate matter or absolutely any type of case, one of the first questions you should ask them is whether they have malpractice insurance that would cover your matter. While every attorney should have malpractice insurance, it is not a requirement to do so in the State of Connecticut and therefore, many attorneys do not.
If an attorney does not have malpractice insurance, you should move forward with interviewing other attorneys to represent you. There is really no justifiable reason for not having malpractice insurance that is going to be a good answer for a client. Some attorneys do not like to spend money on malpractice insurance, or will say they cannot afford it. If they cannot afford it, not only are they not protecting their client, but they are also indicating that they may not have money to spend on expenses your case will bring. They are not the attorney for you. Some attorneys do not have malpractice insurance because they have had multiple claims against them and they cannot get another policy. Run do not walk to another attorney who has malpractice insurance and can represent you. Finally, some attorneys may say they do not need malpractice insurance because they do not make mistakes or have never had a claim. Every professional person can make a mistake and malpractice insurance is to protect the client. We pursue legal malpractice claims against attorneys and we know that there are multiple different types of ways an attorney can make a mistake and will need malpractice insurance. (See our blog on top ten mistakes attorneys make that are the subject of legal malpractice).
Having malpractice insurance is a way that a potential attorney takes care of a client and cares about their clientele. Often when a client has a personal injury matter, a trucking accident, a large business deal or is being represented with regard to probate litigation to access an inheritance, the client has a lot at stake. We handle all of these types of matters and understand that these matters are very important, as well as valuable, to a client. Come to Stanfield Bechtel Law for all of these types of matters. However, even if you choose another attorney, we care to advise you to make sure that attorney has malpractice insurance.
Keep watching our blog for another article on other important questions to ask your potential attorney