The Supreme Court of California Adopts New Rule of Professional Conduct 3-410
On August 26, 2009, the Supreme Court of California entered an order adopting new Rule of Professional Conduct 3-410, effective January 1, 2010. Rule 3-410 requires lawyers without professional liability insurance to provide written disclosure of their lack of coverage to all new clients and returning clients with new engagements at the time of the client’s engagement.
Several highlight of the rule include:
- written notice is required
- written notice may be be contained in a written fee agreement or separately
- notice must given at the time of engagement
- notice must be given within (30) days coverage is not-renewed, cancelled, or is otherwise lost
- notice is not required for legal services rendered in an emergency
- notice is not required if the legal representation of the client will not exceed four hours
- notice is not required for lawyers employed as a government lawyer or in-house counsel
This may lead to some unusual record keeping requirements and subsequent disclosure obligations post engagement if: (1) a lawyer has a catastrophic claim that exhausts their policy limits during their policy year, (2) a lawyer cannot obtain insurance at their normal policy anniversary date, (3) a lawyer elects not to renew their insurance due to cost or other changes at their practice, (4) a brief engagement or emergency engagement expands to an engagement exceeding four hours.
There are any number of things you can do to procure comprehensive and cost effective insurance today and still other things you should be doing to protect your current and future coverage to insulate yourself and your firm from any uncomfortable mid-engagement disclosure. For some of these ideas and other tools, concepts or other information about legal malpractice insurance, contact Bill Yates or Cary White at Presidio Point Insurance Services or look at our website at www.legalmalpracticeinsuranceservices.com. You may also contact us toll free at 1-800-355-1204.
Contact
Cary White, President
Presidio Point Insurance Services Inc
1-800-355-1204 x 901
cwhite@presidiopoint.com
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