Law firms seeing rise in malpractice claim cost, frequency… NRF has helped global marine firm secure tanker financing…
Ince decides for the simple approach with rebrand
Ince & Co, Ince Gordon Dadds, and now simply Ince.
The UK-listed law firm has decided to rebrand to just one word with immediate effect. The move covers most of the firm’s legal services operations including most of the international offices it acquired from the former Ince & Co.
The Gordon Dadds brand – without the added Ince - will continue to be used for the firm’s private client practice in London.
Along with the shorter name comes a new strapline ‘In Any Case’ and the firm also has a new corporate video.
Law firms seeing rise in malpractice claim cost, frequency
Law firms are facing more frequent claims for malpractice and claims of greater complexity.
US insurance broker Ames & Gough surveyed 11 of the leading lawyers’ professional liability insurance companies that on a combined basis provide insurance to approximately 80% of the Am Law 200 firms.
“Today, the greater complexity of matters and the higher costs to defend malpractice claims, including rising attorneys’ fees and e-discovery costs, are part of what’s driving the alarming increase in claim severity,” said Eileen Garczynski, senior vice president and partner, Ames & Gough. “It’s also clear the landscape for law firms is shifting; clients are now much more willing to point fingers at lawyers to seek financial redress when outcomes don’t meet their expectations.”
Topping the claims are those involving conflict of interest, including perceived conflicts; seven of the 11 insurers surveyed cited conflicts either as the first or second leading cause of legal malpractice claims.
“To get control of this risk more firms are centralizing their conflicts of interest screening and managing the client intake process,” Ms. Garczynski noted. “While that’s a step in the right direction, law firms still need to do a better job of flagging potential conflicts early and training their legal professionals on this issue.”
The largest number of claims stemmed from four practice areas: Business Transactions (cited by 63% of insurers surveyed), Trust and Estates (55%), Corporate & Securities (45%), and Real Estate (45%).
Most insurers surveyed reported that the cost of defending claims had increased in 2018. Two indicated the average cost to defend a claim exceeded U$500,000; three stated their average defense costs were between $100,000 and $500,000, and the remaining six insurers all had an average cost between $50,000 - $100,000.
NRF has helped global marine firm secure tanker financing
A team from Norton Rose Fulbright has helped secure financing for new offshore tankers for global marine firm Teekay Offshore.
The firm acted for Macquarie and ABN AMRO as arrangers in the pre-delivery and post-delivery US$414 million financing of the new build shuttle tankers for Teekay Offshore, with support from EDC, the Canadian export credit agency and GIEK, the Norwegian credit agency.
The firm has also acted for ING Capital LLC as arranging bank in the US$100 million financing of three FPSOs (floating, production, storage and offloading units) for Teekay Offshore.
London-based partner Eleanor Martin led the transaction, assisted by senior associate Alex Blaney and paralegal Leila Parry, with support from Singapore-based of counsel Sue Ann Gan.
