Editor’s Note: This article is the third article discussing findings about what the four Appellate Division departments have been deciding about legal malpractice during the last five years. Future articles will continue to share findings from the data set, containing 357 published decisions.
Any lawyer who chooses to go into New York matrimonial practice probably heard an advance warning or two about its pitfalls. Emotional clients, manipulative adversaries, intra-family pain, court procedures that look Byzantine from the outside, accusations and fee fights are among the drawbacks of this work that risk-averse counselors continue to mention to peers and the next generation. Students in my Family Law class who express their interest in this field often sound a little abashed, as if they are confessing to a bit of perversity.
