The practice of law is also a business. Attorneys have to attract and retain clients who pay their bills in order to keep the practice afloat. Sometimes, in the drive to retain new clients, attorneys ignore the warning signs that could indicate a problem down the road. Indeed, many attorneys who have had a dispute with a client will state after the fact that they should have known from the beginning that the representation would be trouble.
As a result, screening clients has become an increasingly important part of legal malpractice claim prevention. For some, it is difficult to turn down work just because of what could happen. However, over the course of a representation, problem clients can go from being risky relationships to legal malpractice claims in progress. The challenge is to screen out the problem clients without giving up on the clients attorneys need to survive.
