The good news for attorneys: Fewer legal malpractice lawsuits were filed in Connecticut last year than in the two decades before, court data show.

The not-so-good news: This doesn't mean attorneys are doing better work. In fact, experts say the numbers on the docket are far less revealing than attorney-ethics cases when it comes to measuring lawyer-client relations in the state.

"Personally, I think attorneys are doing a worse job than 10 or 20 years ago," said Jamie Sullivan, a Howard, Kohn, Sprague & FitzGerald litigator who also co-authored a book on Connecticut legal ethics. "There are partners in large law firms that have never tried a jury trial before, and they do not know how to properly prepare for a case."

Fewer jury trials lead to more unprepared attorneys, even at larger firms, in Sullivan's view.

So why are fewer—and not more—clients suing?

Disgruntled clients filed 48 legal malpractice lawsuits in Connecticut Superior Court during the last fiscal year, which ran from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019, according to statistics from the the Performance Management and Statistics Unit of the Connecticut judicial branch.

That's a tiny tally in a state with about 21,000 attorneys, according to the American Bar Association's 2019 lawyer population survey.

Sullivan suggests the decline might have something to do with karma, and lawyers not wanting to participate in proceedings against fellow attorneys.

"If they sue another attorney, they might be thinking, 'For the grace of God go I, and I can be sued,"' he said.

Witnesses, ADR play a role

The numbers are the lowest they've been in the past 20 years, hovering at just more than 100 filings annually from 2003 to 2011. They have since dropped nearly each year since then, falling to 93 in fiscal year 2016-17, then down to 68 within months, before reaching 48 at last count.

But experts say look deeper.

"I would not say the reduction in cases is because everyone has straightened up, and is flying right," said Geraghy & Bonnano attorney Mark Dubois, also the state's first chief disciplinary counsel. "I have not seen the quality of representation by lawyers going up. It's not getting better."

Dubois and other court-watchers say a combination of several factors contribute to the drop in legal malpractice cases across Connecticut.

First: A rise in alternative dispute resolutions means fewer cases head to trial. These cases settle quicker and more cheaply than if they had proceeded to trial—a boon to some clients.

"Years ago there was no mediation," said Nuzzo & Roberts partner Anthony Nuzzo Jr., whose practice includes legal malpractice defense work.

And then there's the rising cost of expert witnesses, if clients hope to prove their ex-lawyer was  negligent, or breached a duty. 

"Time is money," Dubois said. "It will cost the plaintiff $10,000 to $15,000 just to get into the courthouse. That's just for the experts. They have to pay for their own experts, and depose defense experts. That could be a factor on why we are seeing less lawsuits. You can't have a case without an expert."

Insurance

Another key contributor: Insurers' reaction to the allegations, and how this affects plaintiffs' spending.

"A lot of the insurance companies will settle the ones where there is liability," Dubois said. "Everyone knows that if it does not settle, it will cost a lot of money to go to trial."

On the side of coin is attorney insurance expenses.

Sullivan suggested legal malpractice insurance can be out of reach for many lawyers—which raises questions about whether they could afford to pay plaintiffs who win against them. He said while most large law firms carry legal malpractice insurance to protect against such suits, many solo practitioners and smaller law firms don't.

"Pursuing those cases is like getting water out of a stone," Sullivan said. "If there is no insurance, the prospect of making an adequate recovery is diminished."

Sullivan said his Hartford-based firm pays $50,000 a year to have its 15 attorneys covered for up to $10 million each in liability. A solo, he said, might have to pay about $5,000 a year for $1 million in coverage. For some solos and smaller firms, he said, the price is just to steep.

In many cases, Sullivan said, clients upset with their attorneys forego the courtroom and file complaints with the Statewide Grievance Committee.

"They'd have a better chance in the grievance process of getting satisfaction," he said.

This might explain why Dubois, who once prosecuted Connecticut attorneys facing ethics charges, sees a correlation.

He said, "Half of all of the disciplinary dockets—and many legal malpractice cases—deal with the breakdown of the attorney-client relationship."