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President Donald Trump’s Former Law Firm in Legal Malpractice Suit

The law firm of the former attorney for President Trump, Marc Kasowitz, who served as Trump’s personal attorney for many years and the head of President Donald Trump’s legal team in connection with the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election has been sued for legal malpractice in Florida. Marc Kasowitz is the principal and name partner of the New York law firm of Kasowitz Benson & Torres. Kasowitz’s firm was in the South Florida news recently, not because of his representation of the President, but for a more dubious reason, a case involving excessive billing by lawyers at his firm for work performed for a South Florida company.

A recent article in the ABA Journal chronicles the story of a South Florida based insurance services company, Patriot National. Patriot National, which sued Kasowitz, Benson & Torres for legal malpractice, provides accounting, recordkeeping and other administrative services to insurance companies. Patriot National and its board of directors was sued in federal court in New York by several hedge funds and other investors for claims related to the sale of securities by Patriot to the investors and the company chose Kasowitz Benson & Torres to represent it in connection with these lawsuits.

Patriot’s suit says Kasowitz Benson billed more than $3.4 million in attorney fees in less than a year defending the company and its board of directors in the four cases. Although Patriot National paid more than $2,000,000 of the legal fees, the fees included questionable charges like more than 80 hours for assembling binders and more than 7 hours to electronically file a document with the court. One attorney at Kasowitz Benson even billed Patriot National 24 hours in a single day for work on the cases. Patriot National filed suit in Broward County against the law firm after it was sued for $1.097 million in unpaid legal fees by Kasowitz Benson in New York state court.

Legal Malpractice in Personal Injury Claims

Legal malpractice claims can arise in many different scenarios. Sometimes, corporate clients will sue their former lawyers for excessive billing like Patriot National has done with Kasowitz Benson & Torres. Legal malpractice claims often arise in the context of personal injury lawsuits, where the rules can be complicated as far as the timelines for filing lawsuits and the damages available as well. Even experienced lawyers make mistakes, but sometimes these mistakes can result in the courthouse doors being closed to a client or result in the client receiving far less compensation than the client would otherwise be entitled to in connection with a lawsuit. For instance, the timelines (or statutes of limitations) for filing certain types of claims are different under Florida law. Likewise, some types of claims, such as medical malpractice, have detailed procedures that must be followed before a lawsuit can be filed, whereas a similar claim against a pharmacy or pharmacy has no such complicated presuit requirements. Therefore, lawyers unfamiliar with an area of the law or who are simply being careless can easily commit malpractice and in the process extinguish their client’s ability to pursue a claim or recover damages for an injury. In such cases, an aggrieved client should consider a legal malpractice lawsuit.

Contact the Experienced Legal Malpractice Attorneys of Schwed, Adams, Sobel & McGinley if Your Attorney Has Committed Malpractice in Representing You

At Schwed, Adams, Sobel & McGinley, we practice in many different types of personal injury and other cases, including legal malpractice claims on behalf of those who have been prejudiced by a lawyer’s mistake. Whether it was filing your lawsuit too late after the deadline for doing so had already passed or whether the attorney did not perform a proper or thorough investigation of your potential claims, we regularly represent the victims of mistakes by those they have entrusted to represent them in their time of need. If you have been harmed by a lawyer’s mistake in representing you, then you should consider pursuing a legal malpractice claim against the attorney. The experienced attorneys of Schwed, Adams, Sobel & McGinley can assist you in doing so. Contact us today at contact@schwedlawfirm.com or 877.694.6079 for a free consultation regarding your situation.