State bar lauds team effort on non-assignability legislation passage

On behalf of the State Bar of Georgia, I am writing to express gratitude to Gov. Nathan Deal, key members of the General Assembly and others whose swift action near the end of the recently completed 2013 legislative session resulted in the passage of legislation to make legal malpractice cases non-assignable.

Action by the Governor and his floor leaders to accept an amendment to HB 359, responding immediately after the Supreme Court of Georgia issued its opinion in Villanueva v. First American Title Insurance Company, which held that legal malpractice claims were assignable just like any commercial marketplace transaction, was a critical step toward enactment of legislation that will benefit the justice system, the legal profession and the people of Georgia. The consequences of Villanueva were potentially devastating to the legal profession, including irreparable harm to the attorney/client relationship and the "duty of the lawyer that runs only to the client; the creation of possible commercial markets for such claims; and the demeaning of the legal profession along with the prospect of having attorneys defend themselves against strangers and the possibility of being forced to divulge confidential lawyer-client information in defending against assigned claims." Mallios v. Baker, 11 S.W.3d 157, 168 (Tex. 2000). As noted in the Amicus Curiae brief that Randy Evans and I co-authored in Villanueva, the decision was "about the direction of a profession … a single but important moment in deciding whether the profession remains unique with special rules aimed at special protections for citizens, the Courts, and the State, or whether the profession becomes just another commercial enterprise."The State Bar is deeply appreciative of the exceptional efforts by Gov. Deal and his staff, Randy Evans of McKenna, Long & Aldridge and co-author of Georgia Legal Malpractice Law, Sens. Judson Hill (R-Marietta) and Josh McKoon (R-Columbus), Reps. Chad Nimmer (R-Blackshear) and Mike Jacobs (R-Brookhaven) and our outstanding lobbying team to accomplish this in only eight days during the hectic final two weeks of the session. The State Bar is particularly indebted to Randy Evans for his invaluable assistance in critical moments leading to the passage of this amendment. The actions of these individuals effectively blocked otherwise devastating consequences to the confidential attorney/client relationship under the Villenueva decision.