Monday, September 8, 2008
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HR6: Attorneys, uninsured; Supreme Court of Va.
WHEREAS, attorneys have ethical and legal obligations to their clients; and
WHEREAS, as the number of attorneys licensed in the Commonwealth increases, the number of legal malpractice cases will also undoubtedly increase and some statistics even indicate that the number of legal malpractice cases is increasing at a faster rate than the increase in the number of attorneys; and
WHEREAS, malpractice insurance is not required to practice law in Virginia; however, statistics show that approximately 60 percent of attorneys in the United States have some malpractice coverage; and
WHEREAS, many malpractice policies do not cover illegal activities such as fraud or theft, and in cases where an attorney does not have malpractice coverage at all, it is possible that the injured client has no remedy; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Virginia State Bar be encouraged to consider some form of mandatory insurance for attorneys or an uninsured attorneys fund for client/victim compensation for malpractice committed by uninsured attorneys in the Commonwealth.
Additional Data
Explanation
This is the actual text of the bill — the legislation itself. Generally this is amending existing law, proposing the addition or removal of words from laws that are already on the books.
Words that are highlighted in yellow are
proposed additions, and words that are crossed out in
red are proposed removals.
The numbers with the § symbol before them are references to existing laws, and if you click on them they’ll take you to that part of the law on the state's website.