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Engagement Letters Can Reduce The Risk of a Legal Malpractice Claim

4/26/19

By: Greg Fayard

Lawyers often ask: what can I do to reduce the risk of a legal malpractice lawsuit? They can do several things, but a clear, narrowly-tailored engagement letter can certainly help decrease the risk of a claim. Here are some tips on effective lawyer-client engagement letters.

• Treat the letter more as an opportunity to build rapport with the client, and less as a formal, intimidating contract. How the relationship begins often determines how it will end, thereby mitigating the risk of a dispute down the road.

• Specifically, identify who the client is to avoid confusion. For example, an engagement letter can state the client is a corporation while excluding officers, directors and shareholders. Stating who is not the client can be as important as stating who is the client.

• State clearly how long the representation will last. Will it end upon settlement, a plea, a conviction, judgment enforcement, but not an appeal? For transactional matters, will the representation end when funds have been transferred and received or after any monitoring provisions lapse? A well-defined length-of -representation clause can also aid the lawyer in a statute of limitations defense. Statutes of limitation begin to toll on termination of the lawyer-client relationship.

• A good engagement letter should also specify precisely the fees in a matter, how fees are calculated, how fees are different than costs, and who is responsible for costs. Contingency matters should also be precise in terms of the percentage going to the attorney, and if different percentages apply, when those percentages apply. Whether a personal injury attorney is entitled to additional funds upon successfully negotiating a medical lien should be succinctly laid out as well. However, the client should be given the opportunity to consult independent counsel with regard to extra attorney compensation for negotiating a medical lien.

• Most importantly, an engagement letter that specifies the scope of representation can help address any misunderstandings over whether the lawyer was to advise a client on all legal issues faced by the client, or only a specific matter. A general scope of representation clause in an engagement letter can lead to a client believing the lawyer represents the client on all of its legal issues, indefinitely, causing some clients to believe the lawyer has an ongoing duty of representation.

For any questions, please contact Greg Fayard at gfayard@fmglaw.com.