The recent tax law changes may impact and increase damage awards in legal malpractice cases.

In New Jersey, when a former client successfully sues a former attorney for legal malpractice, the client is entitled to recover the fees incurred for the malpractice lawsuit as part of the measure of damages. New Jersey’s Supreme Court established this fee-shifting rule, which is an exception to the American Rule that provides each party pays their own attorney fees for a lawsuit, in the 1996 case Saffer v. Willoughby, 143 N.J. 256 (1996).