In the spring of 2012, Raleigh attorney Alan Barnes* was at the top of his game.  He was 58 and had spent years building a thriving solo practice.  His work included trusts and estates, general business, and real estate matters.  In a moment, everything stopped when Alan suffered a massive stroke. For several days, he […]

Attorney Jane Brooks* has a successful solo practice and enjoys a great reputation in her community.  In more than thirty years of practice, she had never had a malpractice claim.  That changed with one real estate matter.  Her story is a reminder that a minor mistake can have huge consequences and that the devil truly […]

There is nothing easy about informing your client that you’ve made a mistake.  It can be tempting to put off the difficult conversation in hopes that something will change or somehow the mistake will go away.  Unfortunately, things are not likely to get better, and delay will only compound the problem.  After contacting your malpractice […]

There are intricacies in every practice area that attorneys unfamiliar with the subject don’t know.  Even worse, they often don’t know what it is that they don’t know.   While it is true that generalist attorneys still exist and expertise can only come with experience, it can be very risky to dabble* in “whatever walks […]

Looking back, she can clearly see that it was too good to be true.  But when she opened that email message, April Frazier thought the case might be just what she needed to get her practice on track. The prospective client, Eddie Barrington, was seeking Frazier’s help in enforcing a worker’s compensation settlement.  Barrington claimed […]

When the client came in with a case involving an out-of-state accident, attorney Martin Connelly knew he had to be careful.  He knew it was dangerous to assume that the statute of limitation in another jurisdiction was the same as that in his own state.  He knew there could be quirks and pitfalls.  On the […]