Possibly the most interesting cases have been in the area of medical and legal malpractice.  This year the firm resolved three significant legal malpractice matters.  Two of the matters involved attorneys that acknowledged to the client that they had made a mistake and advised the client to hire an attorney to pursue a legal malpractice action against them.  These ethical attorneys did the right thing, and the cases against them resolved in a very short period of time for very reasonable amounts.  The third case involved an attorney that refused to admit his mistake resulting in long and nasty litigation with a considerably larger settlement than would otherwise have occurred had the attorney simply been honest.  Ultimately the attorney will face far more repercussions that just having his insurance carrier pay an agreed upon amount.  Unfortunately, the Defense attorney for the Defendant made matters worse by her aggressive representation.  Similar situations have occurred this year in the medical malpractice field.  In several cases resolved this year the defendant doctor denied, against overwhelming evidence to the contrary, any wrongdoing.  The net result was larger recoveries after more contentious litigation.  In one case where liability was not seriously contested, the matter resolved fairly quickly, with little fanfare, and less expense for all.

The moral of the story is that when you are honest and responsible for your actions, things tend to get resolved faster, cleaner, and for less money.  We are all human and mistakes will be made.  It is how you handle your mistakes that help define you as a person.