Legal Updates for Lawyers’ Professional Liability - RESULTS & THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

LAWYERS’ PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY RESULTS*

Charlene Seibert (Pittsburgh, PA) successfully argued preliminary objections to a complaint to join her lawyer-client as an additional defendant, resulting in the joinder complaint being dismissed with prejudice. The court, in a well-written memorandum opinion, agreed with Charlene’s position that our lawyer-client could not be held liable for a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress arising from actions taken in his role as attorney in underlying litigation as our client was protected by the doctrine of absolute judicial immunity. In another matter, Charlene successfully obtained a dismissal of a disciplinary complaint against our lawyer-client.

Aaron Moore (Philadelphia, PA and Wilmington, DE) obtained a dismissal of a legal malpractice complaint where the court agreed that the plaintiff, who alleged our lawyer-client failed to advise her in sufficient time prior to the running of the statute of limitations that he would not take her case, had failed to sufficiently allege that she would have prevailed in any lawsuit filed. The case was therefore dismissed for the failure to allege actual loss. 

Josh Byrne (Philadelphia, PA) achieved a private reprimand for a client in a Disciplinary Board matter where the case had potential national implications. On behalf of another attorney client, Josh achieved a dismissal of a disciplinary complaint. Josh also achieved dismissals of complaints for a nurse and a residential appraiser from the Pennsylvania Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs. 

Jack Slimm and Jeremy Zacharias (Mount Laurel, NJ) obtained a summary judgment decision in a legal malpractice matter where the underlying case concerned a matrimonial representation in a highly contested divorce. In the underlying matter, our clients, represented the wife in a divorce from her husband, who is an attorney. This divorce was contentious based on the facts and circumstances in this case. At all times, our clients advised their client regarding litigation strategy and the disputes concerning discovery and failure to provide documents, which delayed the matrimonial case even further. At all times, the attorneys aggressively represented the wife and retained competent experts to evaluate the husband's law practice for purposes of equitable distribution. When the wife terminated the representation of our clients, they advised the wife of the risks of settling the case with her husband without counsel present, which advice was not heeded by the wife in the settlement of the claims. Jack and Jeremy were successful in arguing that the attorneys did not deviate from the standard of care and represented the wife adequately up until the point of termination of their representation. This was potentially a multi-million dollar case based on the size of the marital estate, and the judge granted summary judgment on behalf of the attorney defendants.

*Prior Results Do Not Guarantee A Similar Outcome

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Josh Byrne (Philadelphia, PA) was appointed Co-Chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Professional Responsibility Committee. Josh is chair of the firm’s Disciplinary Board Representation Practice Group. He focuses his practice on the representation of attorneys in legal malpractice, wrongful use of civil proceedings and disciplinary board matters. He also represents many other types of professionals in the federal and state courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and before disciplinary boards. He additionally serves on the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Ethics Committee and is a Zone One delegate to the PBA’s House of Delegates.