The number of eye-popping legal malpractice payouts surged in 2019, according to a recent study by insurance broker Ames & Gough, but the business disruptions posed by the COVID-19 crisis suggest that last year will only be a precursor.

The 2008 recession proved to be a trigger for a previous wave of clients going after their law firms in court. And in the coming years, distressed businesses will undoubtedly look at contracts that weren’t enough to shield them from the manifold consequences of an economy that was abruptly forced to shut down and seek to pin blame on their lawyers.