Many attorneys who have faced a claim or complaint from a client will say, in retrospect, that they should have known better. Some will even say that they knew at the very beginning of the problematic representation that something was not right or that the representation would be complicated. As a result, screening clients has become an increasingly important part of legal malpractice claim prevention.

Understandably, the idea of screening clients—and losing out on potential work—can be a conflict to many attorneys’ financial goals. Strict conflict of interest rules sometimes limit the work that an attorney can take on, and few attorneys are looking for more ways to reduce their potential client base. However, a problem client does not often get better with time and can create more risk—or even loss—than the promised gain. Over the course of a representation, problem clients can go from being challenging relationships to legal malpractice claims in progress.