Suing clients for unpaid legal fees can cause your attorney malpractice insurance premiums to increase. With admitted insurers as few as 5 client fee suits for unpaid legal fees in a 2-year period causes the insurer to either decline, non-renew your insurance or place restrictive policy exclusions on your policy. Insurers’ data shows that client fee suits cause legal malpractice claims. Fee suits cause counter claims, cross-complaints, and/or disciplinary complaints. If you sue enough c...

Saying that client fee suits are a leading malpractice claims cause might be a little misleading. Underlying reasons for the payment issues may be the cause. Studies suggest that client fee suits cause 33% of the malpractice claims. Law firms that carry large percentages of over 90 days past due receivables are firms that tend to have problems trying to collect the past due amounts. The underlying problem opens the firm up to attorney malpractice claims and bar complaints. By taking the follow...