Phillips Law attorneys defend a wide variety of professionals in malpractice actions, involving the legal and accounting professions, design professionals, real estate agents/brokers, securities broker-dealers, insurance agents/brokers and medical and healthcare providers. Our attorneys provide clients with the benefits of trial lawyers who are knowledgeable about and sensitive to the highly-specialized needs of business professionals. Phillips Law attorneys recognize the sensitive and often personal nature of professional liability litigation. We are able to skillfully balance the reputation of our clients with an aggressive, cost effective legal defense.
Lawyers
The attorneys at Phillips hundreds represent legal professionals ranging from some of the largest law firms in the country to sole practitioners involving a wide variety of legal specialties and underlying claims and transactions. Some of the underlying legal issues involved in these cases include personal injury, commercial litigation, divorce and family law, patent litigation, real estate, tax, probate, bankruptcy, products liability, criminal law and malicious prosecution. Many of these cases involved multi-million dollar claims in either state or federal courts.
Our attorneys understand the sensitive issues of confidentiality and the impact of the case on the lawyer’s on-going practice. Our lawyers have the experience necessary to recognize cases in which attempts should be made to resolve the matter as soon as possible, and the lawyers also have the experience to successfully defend cases as well as recovering fees owed to the legal professional.
Real Estate Brokers / Agents
We represent both national and local real estate brokers and agents as well as home inspectors and leasing agents in actions involving negligence, fraud based on alleged faulty preparation of sales documents, failure to follow escrow instructions, failure to properly inspect and disclose defects, and contractual issues. The firm’s attorneys have extensive experience in both commercial and residential matters as well as representing real estate professionals before administrative boards such as the California Board of Realtors and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Phillips Law also represents brokers and agents involved in trade secret and business competition actions.
Insurance Brokers / Agents
Phillips Law represents insurance brokers and agents in a wide variety of actions alleging errors and omissions involving various types of insurance policies, including personal and commercial lines policies, and primary and excess policies. Our attorneys have experience in defending claims that include failure to procure insurance, improper placement, and under/inadequate insurance.
The key to our success in representing insurance agents and brokers is our understanding of the various defenses available to them as well as our extensive experience and understanding of how insurance works, how it is marketed and how it is sold, as well as how to identify and understand coverage issues. This experience gives us a tremendous advantage in representing our insurance agent and broker clients.
Accountants
The attorneys at Phillips law represent accounting professionals in both civil and bankruptcy courts in cases arising out of alleged errors and omissions and fraud relating to the provision of accounting services. Our attorneys also handle matters involving allegations of improper selection, installation and implementation of accounting software.
Our attorneys have represented accountants practicing as sole practitioners, in small partnerships, or in large accounting firms. We are well qualified to efficiently handle the representation of such professionals on a wide range of legal issues which might arise in connection with compilations, audits, projections, tax return preparation, tax planning and management information services, business and personal financial management, expert testimony and investment advice.
Architects & Engineers
Phillips Law is skilled in representing and defending architects and engineers as individual professionals, design professional firms, design joint ventures and design teams. Our attorneys defend design professionals that include matters arising out of alleged errors and omissions related to the rendering of professional services for projects that include commercial, industrial and residential developments, airports, hospitals, universities, jails, bridges, dam and power plants. The firm also offers risk avoidance counseling designed to assist design professionals in preventing litigation.
Our attorneys recognize that claims against design professionals and engineers should be handled differently from claims against subcontractors in the context of construction litigation. This is because the issues and applicable legal standards are generally very different. We have also been successful in enforcing limitation of liability provisions, obtaining dismissals on favorable terms, and in utilizing claims for unpaid fees to successfully alter the settlement position of the other side. We have defended individual companies and design professionals in two-party claims as well.
Some of the successes of our attorneys in the area of professional liability defense include:
- Defense verdict in legal malpractice case where plaintiff alleged our client improperly drafted property subdivision agreement.
- Summary judgment granted in favor of our client a plumbing engineer where plaintiff alleged improper specification of plumbing valves resulted in flooding of hospital, damaging medical equipment and computers.
- Defense verdict in real estate fraud and breach of fiduciary duty case against real estate broker where plaintiff alleged our client failed to properly disclose alternative purchasers.
- Summary judgment granted in favor of insurance broker where plaintiff alleged our client failed to procure proper excess insurance coverage.
- Defense verdict in favor of our client a civil engineer where plaintiff alleged improper soils compaction and structural support caused commercial office building to slide.
- Summary judgment granted in favor of our client an architect where plaintiff alleged improper roof designed resulted in flooding of school gymnasium.