Article by Manuel R. Ramos
My prior articles have painted a different picture of legal malpractice than that previously offered by the ABA and the insurance carriers; shown how legal malpractice happens to everyone; detailed my personal and not too flattering journey through legal education, the practice of law, and return to legal education; and taken a critical look at lawyer discipline. Unlike prior articles, however, this Article focuses on how legal malpractice has and will continue to reform lawyers and law professors.
Lawyers and law professors, not the civil justice system, need to be reformed. Product liability and medical malpractice litigation forced manufacturers and doctors to reform. Legal malpractice litigation also will force lawyers and law professors to reform. Section II of this Article calls for ending lawyer or judicial “self-regulation” and for abolishing the traditional disciplinary model. Section III shows why legal malpractice litigation is much more effective than the traditional self-regulation disciplinary model of lawyer regulation. In Section IV, Oregon Professional Liability Fund (PLF), the nation's only mandatory legal malpractice insurance program, is touted as a model and a better way to regulate lawyers. Finally, Section V explains how legal malpractice begins in law school and continues with continuing legal education courses. Much more needs to be done to train students and lawyers to become competent. Legal malpractice will continue to act as a catalyst to fundamentally reform the legal profession and legal education. The only question is how quickly consumers and legislators will take notice and demand radical changes.
About the Author
Manuel R. Ramos. Associate Professor, Tulane University Law School. B.A. magna cum laude 1974, Yale University; J.D. 1978, University of Virginia. A former partner with Lewis, D'Amato, Brisbois & Bisgaard, one of California's largest law firms, and co-founder of its San Diego office, Professor Ramos has handled over 900 legal malpractice cases for over 20 insurers.
Citation
70 Tul. L. Rev. 2583 (1996)