This registration form is for Monday, October 7, 10:00 a.m.–Noon ET
This program is also available on:
Thursday, October 31, 10:00 a.m.–Noon ET
This program was also presented on September 5, 2024.
| MCLE Credit: | 2.0 (Ethics: 2.0) |
| Live-Interactive Credit: | 2.0 (all dates, all formats) |
| Designation Credit: | 2.0 Ethics |
This interactive program is designed to provide law firms with an overview of the most common legal malpractice claims (including related risks, such as cyber, management, and employment-related claims), and how to avoid them. During this two-hour seminar, Eileen Garczynski (an attorney with more than 30 years of risk management experience) and Dennis Quinn (an attorney with decades of experience defending legal malpractice cases) will give lawyers a framework to identify and proactively address risks and opportunities across their entire firms.
Our experienced speakers will identify the errors that frequently occur in specific practice areas and advise on how to respond appropriately to risky situations. Learn how to carefully select clients; manage the engagement and non-engagement of potential clients; and terminate a client relationship properly. The seminar will also cover how to avoid conflicts of interest, malpractice claims from a dissatisfied client, fee disputes, missed deadlines, untimely notice of claims to the insurer, and falling victim to Internet scams, as well as preventing employee theft and poor lawyering.
The speakers will discuss Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1.1 (Competence); 1.3 (Diligence); 1.6 (Confidentiality); 1.5 (Fees); 1.7 (Conflicts of Interest), and more.
Topics of discussion will include:
Come away from this session armed with strategies to reduce risk while also making your firm eligible for favorable Lawyers’ Professional Liability Insurance pricing and coverage.
Registration Deadlines:
Webcast: | 10 minutes prior to seminar. If you register for a webcast the day of the seminar, your e-mail receipt will include a link to launch the seminar and download the materials. |
Telephone: | Online registration ends at 11:59 p.m. the day preceding the seminar |
Cancellation Policy: Cancellation/transfer requests will be honored until 5:00 p.m. the day preceding the seminar. You will, however, be charged $40 if you cancel or transfer your registration to a different seminar after the link to the materials has been e-mailed by Virginia CLE®.
Full refunds or transfers are available up to two days after a webcast in the unlikely event that you experience technical difficulties.
Inclement Weather Policy and Updates.
MCLE Credit Caveat: The MCLE Board measures credits by the time you spend in attendance. If you enter a seminar late or leave it early, or both, you must reflect those adjustments accurately in the credits you report on your credit reporting form. A code will be given at the end of the seminar, which must be written on your MCLE form.
Can’t Attend?
E-mail distance_ed@vacle.org to be notified when/if this program is made available as an online or USB seminar.
E-mail publications@vacle.org to be notified when/if this program’s seminar materials are made available for sale.
10:00 | 13th Annual Avoiding Legal Malpractice Seminar 2024 |
12:00 | Adjourn |
Eileen Garczynski, Ames & Gough / McLean
Dennis Quinn, Carr Maloney / Washington, DC
Eileen Garczynski, Ames & Gough / McLean
Eileen Garczynski is a senior vice president and equity partner of Ames & Gough. With more than 30 years of insurance and legal experience, she leads the law firm initiative, focusing on the risk management and insurance needs of law firms. She is also a liaison to and former appointed member of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability and the former vice chair of the Insurance & Risk Management Committee for the Section of Intellectual Property Law of the ABA. She is a regular speaker at industry- and bar-related events and a frequent writer of industry related publications.
Ms. Garczynski joined Ames & Gough in 2007 and is in the firm’s McLean, Virginia, office. She previously served as a claims manager and inside counsel for both Travelers Insurance Company and Wausau Insurance Company. She also was a litigation and risk manager for the American Red Cross and spent seven years with LexisNexis as a strategic market planning manager, developing key insurance and legal products for Fortune 500 companies, law firms, and insurers.
Ms. Garczynski received her law degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law, a market strategy certificate from Georgetown University, and her undergraduate degree, cum laude, from the College of Wooster.
Dennis Quinn, Carr Maloney / Washington, DC
Dennis Quinn is a partner at Carr Maloney. He concentrates his practice on professional liability, commercial litigation, and ethics counseling. He has successfully represented hundreds of clients in legal malpractice actions, accounting malpractice actions, and ethical complaints, trying cases in most of the state and federal courts in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland. He served six years on the Virginia State Bar’s Standing Committee on Legal Ethics, three as the Committee’s Chair. Mr. Quinn regularly advises lawyers and law firms on ethical issues, frequently speaking to bar associations and professional groups on ethics, risk management, and the avoidance of malpractice claims and bar complaints.
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