Alternative Liability in Litigation Malpractice Actions: Eradicating the Last Resort of Scoundrels

During the past 40 years there has been a major expansion in the duty of care owed to individuals by professionals. Attorneys, however, have avoided many of these new duties, able to violate a high standard of representational care with impunity. This article lays out the pattern of doctrinal change in medical malpractice and proposes similar modifications to litigation malpractice law. Using medical malpractice as a standard of comparison throughout, an argument is made that eliminating the panoply of causation defenses and other traditional elements of litigation malpractice will encourage the bar to both better protect clients and benefit the victims of litigation malpractice